egero

Forms

ēgerō (present infinitive ēgerere, perfect active ēgessī, supine ēgestum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + gerō (“to carry”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces gerō to Proto-Italic *ges-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ǵ-es- (“to carry”), a derivative of the root of agō (“to drive”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is in Cato the Elder: “carry the dung out to the dunghill”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to carry out or away, and in Statius to carry out the dead for burial.^[2] It is to take out or remove, as earth dug from trenches, booty from enemy houses and money from the treasury in Livy, to expel people from a city, to bale out water and to drain off rivers.^[2][5] Lewis & Short note it is mostly post-Augustan.^[5] It is also to discharge or send forth, as a crater emitting bitumen in Pliny the Elder, to discharge from the body by vomiting or excretion, and to emit sounds.^[2] Pliny uses it of bringing forth offspring, Ovid of grief poured out in tears, and a declamation of money spent on feasts.^[2] English egest (c. 1600) comes from its participle.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato the Elder of carrying out dung.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of booty and money taken out.^[5][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of baling water and of grief poured out.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a crater discharging bitumen.^[2][6]
• c. 1600 – English egest.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carry out or away; to carry out for burial.^[2][5][1]
2. To take out, remove, extract; to expel; to bale out water.^[2][5]
3. To discharge, emit; to discharge from the body, vomit.^[2][5][1]
4. To bring forth offspring; to yield produce.^[2]
5. To pour out emotions; to express.^[2]
6. To use up, spend money.^[2]

Word family

• ēgeriēs
• ēgestiō
• ēgestus

Related words

• gerō
• dīgerō

Usage notes

The OLD records a doubtful noun ēgerō, -ōnis, “a carrier-out”, made from the verb.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de