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excogito

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word excogito

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1st century BC, Rhetorica ad Herennium
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂eǵ-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈskoː.ɡɪ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈskɔː.d͡ʒi.to][1]

Forms

excōgitō (present infinitive excōgitāre, perfect active excōgitāvī, supine excōgitātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from ex- and cōgitō (“to think”).[2][3][1] ⟨Cōgitō⟩ is in turn from co- and agitō (“to drive, consider”), the frequentative of agō (“to drive, do”),[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *age/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in a fragment of an unidentified Roman comedy and in the Rhetorica ad Herennium.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to find out by thinking, to think out, contrive, devise or invent, in a good or a bad sense, often with the end in view (Pliny's casks “devised for wines”).[2][3][5] Cicero is very fond of it, as are Valerius Maximus and Pliny the Elder, while Sallust, Horace, Velleius, Columella and the dactylic poets avoid it.[3] A late-antique list of Ciceronian synonyms groups it with mōlior, māchinor, comminīscor, inveniō and reperiō.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “devise, invent”.[6]

Timeline

  • 1st century BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium.[3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it often.[3][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of devising casks for wine.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To think out, contrive, devise, invent.[2][1][6]

Word family

  • excōgitātiō
  • excōgitātor
  • inexcōgitātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f g h 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Excogito.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/excogito. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·