grego

Forms

gregō (present infinitive gregāre, perfect active gregāvī, supine gregātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Latin aggregō and congregō, which were formed first from grex (“flock, herd”); the simple verb arose from them only later.^[2][3] The grammarian Priscian derives it directly from grex.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Statius, in the passive with a middle sense, “to flock together”: in the Achilleid people who have become sheep “flock together” under a leader (duce te gregantur).^[2][4][5] The TLL sets aside an apparent earlier instance in Lucretius.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a poetic and post-Augustan word.^[6] In Late Latin it is used of gathering people: Sulpicius Severus has Levitas ad se gregavit, “he gathered the Levites to himself”, and Paulinus of Nola uses it of sheep.^[6][4] The glossaries render it with Greek ἀγελίζει (agelízei) and ἀθροίζει (athroízei).^[4][3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to collect into a group,^[7] and medieval writers use it in the middle sense, of people assembling in numbers.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses the passive gregantur and gregati of a crowd gathering.^[2][6][5]
• c. 363–c. 420 AD – Sulpicius Severus uses it of gathering people.^[6][5]
• c. 353–431 AD – Paulinus of Nola uses it of sheep.^[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To collect into a flock or herd.^[2][6]
2. To gather, assemble (people).^[6][7]
3. (passive, middle sense) To flock together, assemble, come together in numbers.^[2][4][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften