effugio

Forms

effugiō (present infinitive effugere, perfect active effūgī, supine effugitum); third (-iō variant) conjugation^[1] It is also spelled ecfugiō and exfugiō, and an early inscription has exfociont for effugiunt.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- (“out”) + fugiō (“to flee”).^[2][1] De Vaan derives fugiō from Proto-Italic *fug-i-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰug-i- (“to flee”), cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius.^[3] Plautus has patriā hāc effugiam, “I will flee from this country”, and piscis nē effugiat cavet, “he takes care that the fish does not get away”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Effugere is “to flee, get away, escape”, with the idea of success, and with an object “to escape from” pursuers or weapons (Titinius: sēmitātim fūgī atque effūgī patrem, “I ran off by the back lanes and escaped my father”).^[2][4][1] It also means “to keep away from, avoid” (Virgil: hās … terrās … effuge, “shun these lands”), “to slip from” someone's grasp (Virgil of Creusa's ghost escaping Aeneas' arms), and “to escape” the senses or attention.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “to avoid, escape from, shun”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[3][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: piscis nē effugiat cavet.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: ter frūstrā comprēnsa manūs effūgit imāgō, “three times the ghost, grasped in vain, escaped my hands”.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To flee, get away, escape.^[2][4][1][5]
2. To escape from (pursuers, dangers).^[2][4][1]
3. To keep away from, avoid, shun.^[2][1][5]
4. To slip from (the hands or grasp).^[2]
5. To escape (the senses or attention).^[2]

Related words

• fuga
• fugiō
• effugium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de