gigno

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɡɪŋ.noː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈd͡ʒiɲ.ɲo]^[1]

Forms

gignō (present infinitive gignere, perfect active genuī, supine genitum); third conjugation^[1] Old Latin also has an unreduplicated present genō, used until Varro.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *gignō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵi-ǵnh₁-e/o- (“to beget”), the reduplicated present of the root *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, be born”).^[2][1] The participle genitus is a later formation, made on the perfect genuī, replacing the old participle preserved in nātus.^[2]

Cognate with Ancient Greek γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to be born, become”), Sanskrit जनति (jánati, “begets”) and Old Irish gainithir (“is born”).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards.^[2] Ennius has the people cry, “O Romulus, what a guardian of the fatherland the gods begot in you!”^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant to beget or bring into being, of gods, fathers and mothers, as Ennius' “Saturn, whom Caelus begot”, and in the passive to be born.^[3] A country was said to give birth to its citizens, as in Cicero, and nature to produce things, as Plautus' land “where incense grows”.^[3]

It meant to produce or give rise to abstract things, as Cicero's “virtue begets friendship”, and to produce by thought, as a man who “begot eloquence in this city”.^[3] In philosophy the passive was “to be coming into being”, as opposed to eternal being, in Cicero's Timaeus.^[3] From it come genitor, genetrix and ingenium.^[2][1] English genuine comes from its derivative genuinus, and generate from the related generare.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for things growing and men being born.^[3][7]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of gods begetting Romulus.^[3][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro still uses the old present genit.^[4][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for virtue begetting friendship.^[3][7]
• 1590s – English genuine is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To beget, bear, bring forth.^[3][4]
2. (passive) To be born.^[3][1]
3. (of a country, of nature) To produce.^[3][1]
4. To cause, give rise to.^[3][1]
5. To produce (by the mind).^[3]
6. (philosophy, passive) To come into being.^[3]

Word family

• congenitus
• ēgignō
• Genita
• genitābilis
• genitūra
• genitus
• genuīnus
• indigenus
• ingenitus
• ingignō
• postgenitus
• prōgignō

Related words

• gēns
• genus
• gnātus
• nātus
• nāscor
• English genuine
• English generate
• English genitive

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes creare, to call something into being by one's own will, from gignere, to bring it forth by procreation or birth.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper