divulgo

Forms

dīvulgō (present infinitive dīvulgāre, perfect active dīvulgāvī, supine dīvulgātum); first conjugation^[1] The spelling dīvolgō seems to be confined to Sallust and some manuscripts of Cicero.^[2] A form dēvulgō appears in glosses and some late texts.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + vulgō² (“to make public”),^[2][1][3] and that verb comes from vulgus (“the common people”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cicero and Lucretius on.^[3][4] Cicero uses it of making public a document, an informer's evidence that was read, copied and spread abroad, and of putting a book into circulation.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Its sense was to publish or make widely known: Caesar uses it of a plan that became known, and Suetonius of verses and handwritten notes.^[6][3] Cicero also uses it of a youth given over openly to everyone's lusts, made common property.^[2][7] The participle dīvulgātus meant widespread or common: Lucretius has a glory spread abroad, and Cicero calls a magistracy the most common of all.^[6] The TLL notes that poets hardly use it.^[3]

In Late Latin it was used of publishing laws and edicts: the Theodosian Code orders an edict to be made known in all the provinces, and the Vulgate's Esther has a decree published through the whole empire.^[3] Ecclesiastical Latin has the sense to spread around.^[8] English took it over in the mid-15th century as divulge, first in the sense to make public.^[5]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the participle of glory spread abroad.^[6][4][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of publishing evidence and books.^[3][2][9]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a plan becoming known.^[6][9]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of verses and notes.^[6][9]
• 396 AD – A law later collected in the Theodosian Code orders an edict to be published in all the provinces.^[3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a royal decree.^[3][9]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as divulge.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make public, spread news of, divulge.^[2][6]
2. To put (a book) into circulation, publish.^[2][3]
3. To make common, give over to common use.^[2][6]
4. (Late Latin) To promulgate (a law or edict).^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de