fugitivus

Forms

fugitīvus (feminine fugitīva, neuter fugitīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] An inscription spells it fugiteivos.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from fugiō (“to flee”) with the suffix -īvus.^[2][3] De Vaan traces ⟨fugiō⟩ to Proto-Italic *fugi- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰug-i- (“to flee”), cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author,^[5] who in the Menaechmi speaks of people “who put fetters on runaway slaves”, and in the Pseudolus of a runaway bitch.^[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it is runaway or fugitive, of slaves, as Cicero's runaway slave reader in a letter from Vatinius, of domestic animals, as Varro's bees that fly off, and of things, as Terence's “runaway money”.^[2][3] As a noun it is a runaway slave or deserter, and the plural is used of the army of runaway slaves led by Spartacus and defeated by Crassus in 71 BC.^[2][3]

It appears in the Germanic law codes and in charters, and in medieval Latin it also means fleeting, transient, of this world.^[5][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of runaway slaves and animals.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of “runaway money”.^[2][5]
• 71 BC – The fugitīvī of Spartacus defeated by Crassus.^[2]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English, by way of Old French, as fugitive.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Runaway, fugitive (of slaves, animals, things).^[2][1][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) Fleeting, transient.^[6]

Noun

1. A runaway slave, a fugitive, deserter.^[2][1][3]

Related words

• fugiō
• fuga
• profugus
• English fugitive

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes perfuga, a deserter who betrays his side, and trānsfuga, one who changes sides out of wavering, from a fugitīvus, who simply runs away.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper