exagito

Forms

exagitō (present infinitive exagitāre, perfect active exagitāvī, supine exagitātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + agitō (“to set in motion, stir”).^[2][3] De Vaan lists ⟨agitō⟩ among the derivatives of agō (“to drive, do”),^[4] which goes back to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”), cognate with Oscan acum (“to act”), Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to drive, lead”) and Sanskrit अजति (ájati, “drives”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Lucretius, of the force of the wind that is stirred up and bursts out,^[2][5] and in Cicero, who says the orator is both roused and helped by the debates of philosophers.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its physical sense is to stir or shake up, as Seneca's torch that blazes when shaken, and in hunting to start an animal from cover.^[2] Most uses are figurative: to stir up feelings, as Cicero's wish not to stir up his grief again; to drive away, as the Lar and Diana's hounds chase off thieves in Ovid; and to harass or persecute, as farmers driven from their land by Verres' wrongs.^[2] From harassing comes “to attack in words, censure”, of those who attacked and despised the practice of speaking, and Sallust uses it of a matter already “aired” by rumour.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “attack, drive out, disturb, harass”.^[6] Glossaries render it with Ancient Greek ἐξελαύνω (exelaúnō, “to drive out”).^[3]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the wind stirred up.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of harassing and of censuring.^[2][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust of a matter aired by rumour.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–AD 18 – Ovid of driving away and of starting a hare.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stir or shake up; to rouse to movement; in hunting, to start an animal or beat the coverts.^[2][7][1]
2. To stir up feelings in, agitate; to stir up emotions or conditions.^[2]
3. To drive away by disturbing.^[2][1]
4. To disturb continually, harass, persecute.^[2][1][6]
5. To attack with criticism, censure, scold; to discuss, air.^[2][1]

Word family

• exagitatio
• exagitātor

Related words

• agitō
• coagitō
• peragitō
• agō

References

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