Etymologically
Log in

exstimulo

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word exstimulo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
43 BC–18 AD, Ovid
Ultimate origin
Latin (ex-,stimulo)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin stimulo
Latin exstimulo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛks(ː)tɪ.mʊ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eksˈstiː.mu.lo][1]

Forms

exstimulō (present infinitive exstimulāre, perfect active exstimulāvī, supine exstimulātum); first conjugation[1] Also extimulō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + stimulō (“to goad”),[2][1][4] from stimulus (“goad”).[1] The TLL glosses it as to goad strongly.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ovid is the earliest author in the OLD's and Lewis & Short's citations: a tigress spurred by hunger, rousing someone with words, and a prayer to hasten lingering fate.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that it is poetic and post-Augustan.[3] In the literal sense it is to prick or goad, as Pliny the Elder's creatures pricked with a sting.[2][5] More often it is to stir up or incite: Columella rouses the lust of a herd, Seneca says such praise spurs the minds of young men, and Tacitus has a man urged on by freedmen.[2][3][5] Silius has hearts roused to the fury of war, and Prudentius minds stirred by reproach and prayer.[3][5] Church Latin has “excite, stimulate, goad, instigate, prick”.[6]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a tigress spurred by hunger.[2][3][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella, of rousing a herd.[3][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of spurring young minds.[5][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of being urged on by freedmen.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To goad, prick.[2][3][1]
  2. To stir up, incite, instigate.[2][3][1]

Word family

  • exstimulātor

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Exstimulo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/exstimulo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·