Etymologically
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impiger

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪm.pɪ.ɡɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈim.pi.d͡ʒer][1]

Forms

impiger (feminine impigra, neuter impigrum, adverb impigrē); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)[1] It is also spelled inpiger.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + piger (“sluggish”).[2][4][1] De Vaan traces piger to Proto-Italic *pig-ro- (“inactive”) and finds no etymology for the root.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[5][6] Cicero uses it in the Verrines of a man who showed himself patient and active.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means not slothful: active, energetic, brisk or tireless, as Cicero's man active in writing letters.[2][3] Poets use it predicatively in an adverbial sense, as Virgil's “he eagerly drained the foaming bowl” and Horace's merchant who runs tirelessly to the farthest Indies.[2] Lucan applies it to the river Cephisus, and others to activities.[2] Church Latin glosses it diligent, industrious, quick.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of an active man.[3][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of eagerly draining a bowl.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a tireless merchant.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not slothful, active, energetic, brisk, diligent.[2][3][7][1]
  2. Predicatively, eagerly, tirelessly.[2]

Word family

  • impigritās
  • impigritia

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 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson