Etymologically
Log in

expurgo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 21:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈspuːr.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈspur.ɡo][1]

Forms

expūrgō (present infinitive expūrgāre, perfect active expūrgāvī, supine expūrgātum); first conjugation[1] A longer form expūrigō has been restored for the metre in two places of Plautus.[2][3] The supine expūrgātū occurs in Terence.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + pūrgō (“to cleanse”).[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,[4] reflexively, of clearing oneself of blame: in the Captivi a speaker wishes to clear himself before another.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense of clearing from blame, justifying, continued in Terence, Sallust and Tacitus, who has a man asking for the charges and declaring he would answer them.[2][7][6]

The physical sense, to cleanse or purify, appears in Varro, who speaks of weeding crops, and in Columella of cleaning grain, vines and wounds and of purging animals.[2][4][6] Horace asks what hemlock could ever purge him enough, and Pliny the Elder uses it of clearing skin diseases.[7][3] Cicero says that speech must be purged of faults.[7][6] The Vulgate has expurgate vetus fermentum, “purge out the old leaven”.[7] It continues in Italian spurgare and Provençal espurgar.[4] English expurgate (1620s) comes from its participle or from expurgation, and the plant name spurge comes from it through Old French espurgier, from the plant's purgative properties.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of clearing oneself.[4][6][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in the same sense.[7][2][8]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of weeding crops.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of purging speech.[7][8]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a cure by hemlock.[7][8]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of grain, wounds and livestock.[4][8]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of purging out old leaven.[7][8]
  • late 14th century – English spurge comes from it through Old French.[5]
  • 1620s – English expurgate is formed from it.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cleanse, purify, free from dirt.[2][7]
  2. (medicine) To purge (people or animals); to clean (wounds).[2][4]
  3. To clear away (unwanted matter).[2][7]
  4. To clear from blame, justify, excuse;[2][7] (reflexive) to clear oneself.[2][7]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To drive out, purge.[9]

Word family

  • expūrgātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson