Etymologically
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eo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈe.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɛː.o][1]

Forms

eō (present infinitive īre, perfect active iī or īvī, supine itum); irregular conjugation, impersonal in the passive[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ei- (“to go”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).[2][1] Latin and Sabellic generalized the full grade *ei- in the present, and de Vaan regards the perfect īvī as a recent formation beside older iī.[2] Cognate with Umbrian etu (“let him go”) and Paelignian eite (“go!”), and with Sanskrit एति (éti, “goes”), Ancient Greek εἶμι (eîmi, “I will go”) and Lithuanian eĩti (“to go”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from the Twelve Tables and Plautus.[2] In Plautus one character says to another “just go home with me”.[3] Köbler dates the Twelve Tables to about 450 BC and Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to go or make one's way, and was also said of things that are carried or move and of rumours that spread.[3] With a destination it meant to go to school, to prison or into exile, with ad to have recourse to a person, and with contrā to go against someone.[3] With the supine it meant to go to do something, and in a weakened sense to be about to do it.[3] The passive is only impersonal, as ītur “people go”.[1]

Its compounds were many: exeō, redeō, trānseō, pereō, and English exit was borrowed in the 1530s from exit “he goes out”, a stage direction.[5] Italian ire, Spanish ir and Portuguese ir continue it, and French keeps it in the future stem ir- of aller.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – it is used in the Twelve Tables.[2][4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][3][4]
  • 1530s – English exit is recorded as a stage direction.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go, proceed, make one's way.[3]
  2. (of things, rumours) To be carried, go, spread.[3]
  3. To set out, depart.[3]
  4. To go (somewhere) to do something (to school, to prison, into exile).[3]
  5. (with ad) To have recourse to, (with contrā) to go against.[3]
  6. (with the supine) To go to do; to be about to.[3]
  7. To follow a line of conduct.[3]

Word family

  • abeō
  • adeō
  • ambiō
  • anteeō
  • circumeō
  • coeō
  • exeō
  • ineō
  • intereō
  • introeō
  • itiō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes īre, going as an act of will, said chiefly of persons, from meāre, said rather of animals, ships and rivers moving on their course.[6] The adverb eō “to that place, for that reason” is a different word, an old case form of is.[3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 k l m n 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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press