exporrigo

Forms

exporrigō (present infinitive exporrigere, perfect active exporrēxī, supine exporrēctum); third conjugation^[1] Early Latin has the shortened form exporgō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + porrigō¹ (“to stretch out”).^[2][1] That verb is a compound of por- (“forward”) and regō (“to direct”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *reg-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-e/o- (“to stretch, direct”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus, in the shortened form exporgō, at the start of the Pseudolus, of stretching the loins.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Terence and Titinius have the same short form, Terence in exporge frontem, “smooth your brow”, that is, cheer up.^[2][6][7] Varro has someone stretched out in sleep,^[8] and the Bellum Africum uses it of deploying cavalry in a long line and of extending siege works.^[6][5] Lewis & Short call it ante-classical and post-Augustan.^[6]

Mela says mountains stretch out in a long ridge,^[2][7] and Pliny the Elder uses it of creatures stretching their legs and of sesame spread out in the sun.^[6][5] Figuratively Seneca asks why one spreads months and years out in a long series, and says the definition of the highest good can be widened.^[2][8] Prudentius has someone lying stretched out on a purple couch.^[6][5] Medieval writers used it of extending and widening, of smoothing a frowning brow, and figuratively of exalting someone.^[9] It survives in Italian sporgere.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the short form exporgō.^[2][10]
• 190–159 BC – Terence has exporge frontem, “smooth your brow”.^[2][10]
• 43/44 AD – Mela uses it of mountains stretching out.^[2][10]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it figuratively, of time and of an idea.^[2][10]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of lying stretched on a couch.^[6][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stretch out, spread out, extend.^[2][6]
2. To smooth (a wrinkled brow).^[2][6]
3. (reflexive or passive, of land) To extend, stretch.^[2]
4. (figurative) To widen the scope of (an idea); to spread out (time) in a long series.^[2][7]
5. (military) To deploy (troops) in a long line.^[5][6]
6. (Medieval Latin) To exalt, honour.^[9]

Related words

• porrigō¹
• regō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de