Etymologically

expingo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 16:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈspɪŋ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈspiŋ.ɡo][1]

Forms

expingō (present infinitive expingere, perfect active expinxī, supine expictum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- + pingō (“to paint”).[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero on,[4] who uses the participle expictus in the Tusculan Disputations of things vividly depicted in words.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder uses it in a passage on encaustic painting whose object is uncertain in the manuscripts.[4][7] Martial uses it of rouged cheeks and painted skin, and Tertullian of a woman painting herself.[5][7]

The TLL, following Meyer-Lübke, gives Italian spegnere as its descendant.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of depicting in words.[5][6][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of encaustic painting.[4][8]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of painted cheeks.[5][7][8]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a woman painting herself.[5][7][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To paint, cover with paint; to rouge (the cheeks or skin).[2][5][7]
  2. (figurative) To depict, portray in words.[2][5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de