Etymologically
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flagito

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɫaː.ɡɪ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈflaː.d͡ʒi.to][1]

Forms

flāgitō (present infinitive flāgitāre, perfect active flāgitāvī, supine flāgitātum); first conjugation[1] Plautus has the old passive infinitive flāgitārier.[2][3]

Etymology

De Vaan takes it as a frequentative of a lost verb ⟨*flāgō⟩ “to whip”, from Proto-Italic *flāg-e/o- (“to whip”), so first “to whip as a punishment”, then “to scold”; it would then belong with flagrum (“whip”), and perhaps with Old Norse blaka (“to flap, beat”) and Lithuanian blokšti (“to fling”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₂g-, but these cognates are not certain.[4][1] The OLD gives the link with ⟨flagrum⟩ as possible, and the TLL calls the origin unknown.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.[4] In the prologue of the Menaechmi a lost boy is loudly called for: illum clāmōre vīdī flāgitārier.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is to beset someone with demands, to importune, and especially to dun a debtor: Cicero says it is easy to deal well with those who seem to press us even when silent.[5] In Tacitus it is to summon for trial, and a jurist uses it of seducing a woman.[5] It is to ask someone repeatedly for something (Plautus: you press me to speak out) and to clamour for a thing;[5] Cicero has what the ears of men demand.[5]

Church Latin glosses it “beseech, entreat, demand earnestly”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of demanding a person and pressing someone to speak.[4][5][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of importuning.[5][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of summoning for trial.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To press with demands, importune; to dun (a debtor).[5][1]
  2. To summon to trial.[5]
  3. To ask repeatedly, entreat, solicit.[5][1][6]
  4. To demand, clamour for.[5][1][6]
  5. To seduce (a woman).[5]

Word family

  • difflāgitō
  • efflāgitō
  • flāgitātiō
  • flāgitātor
  • flagitatrix
  • flāgitium
  • reflāgitō
  • flāgitātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de