Etymologically
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fugo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfʊ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfuː.ɡo][1]

Forms

fugō (present infinitive fugāre, perfect active fugāvī, supine fugātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from fuga (“flight”) with the verb ending -ō.[2][1][3] ⟨Fuga⟩ belongs to fugiō (“to flee”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *fug-i- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰug- (“to flee”), cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”) and φυγή (phugḗ, “flight”).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the prologue of Plautus' Amphitruo Mercury tells how Amphitruo routed the enemy legions.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to put to flight, of people (Cicero: one who drove others off with the sword) and in war to rout.[2] In poetry things are driven away: waves by a mole (Ovid), the day's heat dispelled by a rising star.[2] It is to get rid of, as jurors Cicero's opponent could not remove by challenge, and in Lucretius to drive into exile.[2] It is also to frighten off, as Horace's poet, and to banish a state of mind.[2] Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.[6]

Church Latin glosses it “put to flight, chase”.[7] Later compounds such as febrifuga and vermifuga, driving out fever or worms, are formed with it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of routing legions.[2][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of driving into exile.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of driving people off.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of frightening off a poet.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put to flight, chase away;[2][1][7] (military) to rout.[2][1][7]
  2. To get rid of, dismiss; to drive into exile.[2][1]
  3. To deter, frighten off.[2]
  4. To dispel, banish.[2][1]

Word family

  • dēfugō
  • fugātor
  • fugatrix
  • febrifugia
  • nūbifugus
  • lūcifugus
  • ēffugō
  • febrifugus
  • vermifugus

References

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