Etymologically
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egenus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɛˈɡeː.nʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [eˈd͡ʒɛː.nus][1]

Forms

egēnus (feminine egēna, neuter egēnum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is probably from ⟨*egesnos⟩, from the neuter ⟨s⟩-stem ⟨*egos⟩ “need” with the suffix ⟨-nus⟩, like egestās “poverty”; it is related to egeō “to lack”.[2][1][3] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *egos (“need”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ-es- (“lack, need”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant needy, in want, and with a genitive or ablative destitute of, lacking, as in Virgil, and Lewis & Short call it rare and mostly poetic, for egēns.[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical and Medieval Latin it meant needy, poor.[7][8] British Medieval Latin used it also as a noun, a pauper, and for poor in spirit.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of lacking.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Needy, poor.[2][8]
  2. Destitute of, lacking.[2]

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A pauper.[9]

Word family

  • egenulus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press