Etymologically
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effugio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɛfˈfʊ.ɡi.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [efˈfuː.d͡ʒi.o][1]

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]

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