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emulgeo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word emulgeo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–50 BC Catullus More words from the 1st century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin mulgeō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mulgeō
Romanian mulge
Latin ēmulgeō
Derivations
From the same root
Latin mulctra ← mulgeō
Latin mulctrum ← mulgeō
Latin prōmulgō ← mulgeō

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eːˈmʊɫ.ɡe.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈmul̠ʲ.d͡ʒe.o][1]

Forms

ēmulgeō (present infinitive ēmulgēre, perfect active ēmulsī, supine ēmulsum); second conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- + mulgeō (“to milk”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author to use it is Catullus, figuratively: he speaks of soil made dry by draining a marsh (emulsa … palude), and of lips marked with whey that has been milked out.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, to milk out, is found in Columella's book on farming,[2][6] while poets used it more generally for draining or exhausting something.[6] Beside the perfect participle emulsus, a participle emulctus occurs in Servius.[4][3] In Medieval Latin it kept both senses, milking or squeezing out and draining off water; anatomists used it of certain veins, and by confusion with emulgare it could also mean to approve or proclaim.[7] The English word emulsion goes back to Modern Latin emulsio, the noun from its participle.[8]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses the participle of a drained marsh and of whey.[4][5][9]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of milking out a small amount of milk.[6][4][9]
  • 1610s – English has emulsion, from the Modern Latin noun of action based on it.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To milk out, draw off (milk).[2][6]
  2. (poetic) To drain out, exhaust.[6][5]
  3. (Medieval Latin) To drain off, carry away (water); of certain veins in anatomy.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Emulgeo.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/emulgeo. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·