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egressus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word egressus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*g(h)rd(h)-(e)i-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eːˈɡrɛs.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈɡrɛs.sus][1]

Forms

ēgressus m (genitive ēgressūs); fourth declension[1] The genitive singular is found once, in the Bellum Africum.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from ēgredior (“to go out”) with the suffix -tus of action nouns.[3][2][1] The verb is ex- (“out”) with gradior (“to step”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *grad-(e)i- and Proto-Indo-European *g(h)rd(h)-(e)i-.[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Cicero,[5] who in the In Pisonem speaks of crowds that saw the consuls off when they went out to their provinces.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the action of going out, departure or escape, as Tacitus' Tiberius, who rarely went out; in Caesar it is landing from a ship, as the part of the island where he had learnt the landing was best.[3][6][1] Vitruvius uses it of a load's movement upwards, and Petronius of a place of exit, as the dark way out by which he pulled Giton; it is also the point where a river or spring comes out.[3] In rhetoric it is a digression, as in Valerius Maximus.[3][1]

Köbler finds it in the Bible, the formulae and the Bavarian and Lombard laws.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the consuls' departure.[3][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of landing.[3][5]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius of a way out.[3][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of Tiberius' rare outings.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A going out, departure, egress, escape.[3][6][1]
  2. A landing, disembarkation.[3][1]
  3. A way out, an outlet; the mouth of a river.[3]
  4. A digression.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ 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
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Egressus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/egressus. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·