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enervo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word enervo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*snéh₁-ur)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin enervis
Latin enervo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eːˈnɛr.woː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈnɛr.vo][1]

Forms

ēnervō (present infinitive ēnervāre, perfect active ēnervāvī, supine ēnervātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēnervis (“without sinews, feeble”) + -ō,[2][1] or formed directly from ex- and nervus (“sinew”).[3] De Vaan traces nervus to Proto-Italic *(s)nēuro- and Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁-ur (“sinew”), cognate with Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “sinew”) and Sanskrit स्नावन् (snā́van, “sinew”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds the verb and its participle from Cicero,[3] in whose On Old Age the speaker says that old age has not quite sapped his strength.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly figurative, to take away the strength of a person, a character or a body, to weaken or enervate; the TLL records it in Cicero, Horace, Ovid and Livy.[2][3] The literal sense, to cut the sinews, is in the elder Seneca, who has one man's arms cut off and another's sinews cut,[2] and Lewis & Short find it rare and post-classical, as Apuleius' hamstringing with an axe.[5] Prudentius scans the first syllable short.[5] English enervate comes from its participle and dates from about 1600;[6] Middle English had enerve from about 1400.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of old age sapping strength.[2][3][7]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of hamstringing.[5][7]
  • c. 1600 – Borrowed into English as enervate.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cut the sinews of; to hamstring.[2][5][1]
  2. To take away the strength of, weaken, enervate; to make effeminate.[2][5][1]

References

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

“Enervo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/enervo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·