geno

Forms

genō (present infinitive genere, perfect active genuī, supine genitum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is the old unreduplicated present beside gignō, used in Old Latin until Varro.^[2][3][4] Its formation is disputed.^[1] The verb is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to engender”);^[3] de Vaan regards the present ⟨genere⟩ as secondary, built on the root aorist ⟨*gen-⟩ that also gave the perfect genuī, while the reduplicated present continues the inherited present Proto-Indo-European *ǵi-ǵnh₁-e/o-.^[3][1] Others take it as an old thematic root present of the same root,^[1] comparable to Sanskrit जनति (janati, “to beget”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius has the passive infinitive genī, “to be born”.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to beget or bear, and in the passive to be born; it was simply an older form of gignō.^[2][4][5] Cicero quotes it from the formula of a will, sī mihi fīlius genitur (“if a son is born to me”),^[6][7] and Varro still uses the forms genit, genunt and genat.^[5][6] The dictionaries of Church Latin list it with the sense “bear, beget”.^[8]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the passive infinitive genī.^[6][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero quotes a will formula with genitur, “is born”.^[6][5][9]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses genit and genunt, the last author de Vaan names for the form.^[5][3][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Old Latin) To beget, bear, bring forth.^[1][4][5]
2. To cause, produce, yield.^[1]
3. (passive) To be born, be produced.^[1][7]

Word family

• genitor
• genetrīx
• genetīvus

Related words

• genus
• gēns
• gignō
• gnātus

Usage notes

The OLD, Lewis & Short and the TLL treat it only as a cross-reference to gignō, under which its forms are discussed.^[2][4][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften