impigre

Forms

impigrē (not comparable)^[1] It is also spelled inpigrē.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin impiger (“active, energetic”) + -ē.^[2][4] That adjective is the negative of piger (“sluggish”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *pig-ro- (“inactive”); the further origin of the root is unknown.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in the Rudens, of getting up energetically late at night.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It means energetically or briskly: Sallust uses it of Marius watching both his own and the enemy's affairs, and Livy of soldiers following the consul and of help promised and given readily.^[3] Lewis & Short find no comparative or superlative.^[3] In British Medieval Latin it means not slothfully, assiduously.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of getting up promptly.^[3][4]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust, of Marius.^[3][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of soldiers following the consul.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Energetically, actively, briskly, readily.^[2][3][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Without sloth, assiduously.^[6]

Related words

• impiger
• piger

References

1. ^ a b 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 e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ 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 Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press