evagor

Forms

ēvagor (present infinitive ēvagārī, perfect active ēvagātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] An active ēvagō occurs in Accius.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + vagor (“to wander”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists ⟨vagārī⟩ “to wander, roam” among the derivatives of vagus (“roaming, wandering”), for which he reconstructs Proto-Italic *wago- and, with a question mark, Proto-Indo-European *Huog-o-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first instance is an active form in Accius, of noble rank that spreads widely from an illustrious stock: nobilitas late ex stirpe praeclara evagat.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means to wander off or stray from a place or course:^[2] Livy uses it of the Etruscans roaming so widely and of troops with no room left to manoeuvre, and Cicero of appetites that roam too far and are not held in by reason.^[2][5] Horace has it with an object, of licence straying from the right order.^[2]

It was also said of things that spread beyond their bounds: Pliny the Elder uses it of the Nile overflowing and of a plant that spreads over the fields, Seneca and Columella of roots and vines, and the jurists of fire.^[2][5] From Seneca on it is used of roaming in thought or digressing in speech, and Quintilian reports a plea to the judges not to let Demosthenes digress.^[2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to wander or stray.^[6]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses an active form of fame spreading.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of appetites that stray.^[2][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it with an object.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of troops ranging and manoeuvring.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the Nile overflowing.^[2][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of digressing in a speech.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wander off, stray;^[2][5] (of troops) to manoeuvre.^[2][5]
2. (transitive) To stray from (a course).^[2]
3. (of a river) To overflow;^[2][5] (of fire, plants) to spread.^[2][5]
4. (of abstract things) To spread widely.^[2]
5. To roam in thought; to digress.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de