digero

Forms

dīgerō (present infinitive dīgerere, perfect active dīgessī, supine dīgestum); third conjugation^[1] Glosses also have the spelling degero.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + gerō (“to carry”).^[3][2][1] De Vaan traces gerō to Proto-Italic *ges-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ǵ-es- (“to carry”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is in Cato the Elder, in the sense to plant out.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is to set out or dispose, of tablets read and arranged by Cicero and of plants set out in rows; in a non-material sense it is to arrange, organize or classify, and to enumerate.^[3][5] Lewis & Short note that the literal sense, to force apart, separate or divide, is mostly post-Augustan.^[5] It also means to scatter or disperse, as Seneca's moon dispersing shadows, and to distribute, as Ovid's punishment one man deserved spread over all.^[3]

In medicine it is to distribute food through the body, to digest, in Celsus, Pliny the Elder and Quintilian, and to dissipate morbid matter.^[3] Church Latin glosses it “digest, arrange”.^[6] Its participle gave Late Latin digesta, the name of Justinian's law code, and English digest (late 14th century).^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato the Elder of planting out.^[3][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of arranging documents.^[3][8]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of the digestion of food.^[3][8]
• late 14th century – English digest, first of Justinian's law code.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lay out, dispose; to plant out; to arrange, organize, classify; to enumerate.^[3][5][1]
2. To separate, divide; to scatter, disperse, distribute.^[3][5][1]
3. (medicine) To digest food; to dissipate morbid matter.^[3][6]

Word family

• dīgeriēs
• dīgesta
• digestibilis
• digestim
• dīgestiō
• dīgestus
• indīgestus
• praedīgestus

Related words

• gerō
• English digest

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de