Etymologically
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ego

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɛ.ɡoː], [ˈɛ.ɡɔ][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɛː.ɡo][1]

Forms

egō̆ (first person, nominative, plural nōs)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *egō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ (“I”), with a suffix that gave the long final vowel, as in Greek.[2][1] De Vaan thinks that several variants of the pronoun existed side by side in PIE: the bare stem in Baltic, a form with long /oː/ in Latin and Greek, and one ending in /-om/ in Indo-Iranian, Slavic and Germanic.[2] The other cases are built on a different stem (⟨mē⟩, ⟨mihi⟩, genitive ⟨meī⟩).[3]

Cognate with Faliscan eqo, Ancient Greek ἐγώ (egṓ), Sanskrit अहम् (ahám), Lithuanian àš, Gothic 𐌹𐌺 (ik) and Hittite ūk.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An early inscription on a vase from Ardea writes it eqo; in literature it is found from Livius Andronicus on.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Because the verb ending already shows the person, ego is used mainly for emphasis or contrast (“I for my part”), though colloquial Latin sometimes uses it without emphasis.[3] It is strengthened with -met (egomet) or -pte (mēpte), and cum follows it to make mēcum.[3] The final vowel is usually short (egŏ) in all periods, long only now and then in the comic poets.[3]

English took the word in metaphysics by 1707 for “the self, that which thinks and acts”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 280–200 BC – Used by Livius Andronicus.[4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has egomet and the old accusative mēd.[3][4]
  • by 1707 – Borrowed into English as ego in metaphysics.[5]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. I (nominative, usually emphatic); (oblique cases) me, myself.[3][6]
  2. (dative, “ethic”) For me, I'd have you know (in lively speech).[3]
  3. ad mē, to my house;[3] ā mē, from my house, out of my own money.[3]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press