fligo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈfliː.ɡoː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfliː.ɡo]^[1]

Forms

flīgō (present infinitive flīgere, perfect active flīxī, supine flīctum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *flīg-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleiǵ-e/o- (“to hit, crush”), or *bʰliH-ǵ-.^[2][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek φλίβω (phlíbō, “to rub, crush”), Lithuanian bláižyti (“to tear off”) and Latvian bliêzt (“to beat”).^[2][3] De Vaan notes that the meanings match closely, but the forms cannot all go back to one preform.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it in Livius Andronicus and Accius;^[2] in Livius a wounded man throws himself to the ground as he falls.^[4] Köbler dates Livius' career to before 200 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to strike or dash down.^[3] Lewis and Short call it ante-classical, though Lucretius has it of ships dashed on rocks.^[3][4]

It lives on in its compounds: afflīgō “to strike, damage”, cōnflīgō “to clash, fight”, īnflīgō “to inflict” and prōflīgō “to overwhelm”.^[2]

Timeline

• before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it of a wounded man falling.^[4][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it.^[6][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of ships dashed on rocks.^[4][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To strike, dash down.^[3][1]

Word family

• afflīgō
• cōnflīgō
• efflīgō
• flīctus
• īnflīgō
• prōflīgō

Related words

• English afflict
• English conflict
• English inflict
• English profligate

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.