Etymologically
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frigus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfriː.ɡʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfriː.ɡus][1]

Forms

frīgus n (genitive frīgoris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *srīgos-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sriHǵ-os- (“frost, bitter cold”).[2][1][3] Cognate with Ancient Greek ῥῖγος (rhîgos, “cold, frost”).[2][3][4] Because the zero grade of the root is unusual for an s-stem, Schrijver considers that Latin and Greek formed the word independently, the Latin one from frīgeō “to be cold”, but de Vaan thinks the noun is older than that process.[2] Lewis and Short doubted any connection with rigeō “to be stiff”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Ennius, who speaks of mixing heat with cold.[3] De Vaan dates it from Plautus.[2] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant cold, as one of the four elements opposed to heat, the coldness of weather, and in the plural frosts or cold spells, so that in poetry it stood for winter.[3][7] It was the chill felt in the body from fever or disease, and the chill of death or old age, as Lucretius' body drenched in the eternal cold of death.[3] Figuratively it meant flatness in a speech, as in Quintilian, and coolness of affection or interest, a cold reception.[3] Döderlein distinguishes frīgeō, to be cold, from algeō, to feel cold.[8]

In Medieval Latin it also meant a shivering fit or fever, and religious indifference.[9] It survives in Romanian frig.[1] English frigid comes from the adjective frīgidus, recorded in the 1620s.[10]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of cold as an element.[3][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of cold weather.[3][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the chill of death.[3][6]
  • 1620s – English frigid is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Cold, coldness.[3]
  2. Cold weather, (plural) frosts, (poetic) winter.[3]
  3. A chill in the body; a cold.[3]
  4. The chill of death or old age.[3]
  5. Flatness (of a speech).[3]
  6. Coolness, lack of enthusiasm.[3]
  7. (Medieval Latin) A fever; religious indifference.[9]

Word family

  • frīgerō
  • frīgor
  • frīgorificus
  • frigoro
  • frīgorōsus
  • frīgusculum
  • frīgeō
  • frīgēdō
  • frīgefactō
  • frīgēscō
  • frīgidārius
  • frīgidātiō
  • frīgidē
  • frīgiditās
  • frīgidiusculus
  • frīgidō
  • frīgidulus
  • frīgidus
  • English frigid

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com