Etymologically
Log in

delego

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 00:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [deːˈɫeː.ɡoː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [deˈlɛː.ɡo][1]

Forms

dēlēgō (present infinitive dēlēgāre, perfect active dēlēgāvī, supine dēlēgātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- (“away”) + lēgō (“to send with a commission”).[2][1][3] ⟨lēgō⟩ is from lēx (“law, contract”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *lēg-.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of assigning a person to a task.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to assign a person to a task or place, appoint, as in Plautus and Cato; to commit a task to someone, delegate, entrust, as in Tacitus' īnfāns dēlēgātur ancillae “the baby is handed over to a slave girl”, and with a gerundive or ut to order something to be done, as in Livy; and to ascribe, attribute.[2][6][7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to entrust, assign, send, transfer, delegate.[8] Its participle dēlēgātus gave English delegate (late 15th century, a representative; the verb from the 1520s), and it survives as Italian delegare, French déléguer and Spanish and Portuguese delegar.[3][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of ordering.[2][5]
  • late 15th century – English delegate is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To assign (a person to a task or place), appoint.[2]
  2. To commit (a task), delegate, entrust; to order (something to be done).[2]

Word family

  • dēlēgātiō
  • delegator
  • dēlēgātus

Usage notes

dēlegō is also an old spelling of dēligō “to choose”.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson