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exstinguo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word exstinguo

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*stengʷ-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛks(ː)tɪŋ.ɡʷoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eksˈstiŋ.ɡʷo][1]

Forms

exstinguō (present infinitive exstinguere, perfect active exstīnxī, supine exstīnctum); third conjugation[1] It is also spelled extinguō.[2][3] Plautus has exstinxit for exstinxerit, and Pacuvius and Virgil the shortened exstinxtī.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- + stinguō (“to quench”).[2][1][4] De Vaan traces ⟨stinguō⟩ to Proto-Italic *ste-n-gʷ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- (“to push, thrust”), cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌵𐌰𐌽 (stigqan, “to thrust”): if the root meant “to press”, ⟨exstinguō⟩ is “to press out a fire”, as distinguō is “to push apart”.[5] Ernout and Meillet, as the TLL reports, took the simple verb for a later back-formation by poets.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Asinaria: lucerna sī exstīncta est, “if the lamp has gone out”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to put out a fire or lamp, and of stars to set (Cicero's Aratus), and in Vitruvius to slake lime.[2] It is to kill (Terence), and in the passive to die or die out: Cicero says sī morbō exstīnctus essem, “if I had died of illness”.[2] It is to wipe out, end a war (Plautus: duellō exstīnctō), destroy a band of men, quench passions, and void what was written before.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “extinguish, quench, put out, kill, destroy”.[7] English extinguish (1540s) comes from it.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a lamp and of a war ended.[2][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of killing.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of dying and of quenching passions.[2][8]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of slaking lime.[2][8]
  • 1540s – English extinguish.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put out, extinguish, quench; to slake (lime).[2][1][7]
  2. To kill;[2][1][7] (passive) to die, become extinct.[2][1][7]
  3. To wipe out, annihilate; to end; to allay.[2][1][7]
  4. To make void, cancel.[2]

Word family

  • exstīnctiō
  • exstīnctor
  • exstīnctus
  • exstinguibilis
  • inexstinctus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Exstinguo.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/exstinguo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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