Etymologically
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fugax

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfʊ.ɡaːks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfuː.ɡaks][1]

Forms

fugāx (genitive fugācis, comparative fugācior, superlative fugācissimus, adverb fugāciter); third-declension one-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fuga (“flight”) + -āx,[2] the adjective of tendency to fugiō (“to flee”).[1][3] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *fugiō and Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg- (“to flee”).[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] whose Persa has it in a string of insults for a slave: “glutton, thief, runaway”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means apt to run away, evasive or elusive: of runaway slaves, of the fruit that retreats from Tantalus in Ovid, and with a genitive of a person who avoids something.[2] In poetry it is fleeing or speeding away, swift, as Horace's “fleeting years” and his “hurrying water”.[2][4] Seneca uses it of short-lived pleasure, “quickly over, transient”.[2]

In medieval texts it is a runaway serf.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a runaway slave.[2][3][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of the fleeting years.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of transient pleasure.[2][6]
  • Middle Ages – Of a runaway serf.[5]
  • 1630s – Its stem gives English fugacious.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Prone to run away, elusive, fugitive; of slaves, runaway.[2][4]
  2. Avoiding (with genitive).[2][1]
  3. Fleeing, swift; of time, fleeting.[2][4][1]
  4. Quickly over, transient.[2][1]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Of a serf, runaway.[5]

Word family

  • fugācitās

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 i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com