irrigatio

Forms

irrigātiō f (genitive irrigātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also written inrigātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin irrigō (“to water, irrigate”) + -tiō, a noun of action.^[2][1] The verb is from Latin rigō (“to water”) with the prefix in-;^[4] de Vaan considers the compound older than the simple verb and finds it conceivable that it contains the root of regō (“to guide”), so that it first meant “to lead water onto the fields”.^[4] He gives its source as Proto-Italic *rig-ā- (“to lead toward”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hriǵ- (“to stretch”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro on.^[4] Varro speaks of irrigations that wash away the garden beds, and Cicero speaks of the watering of fields.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose it meant the flooding or watering of land, especially by channels,^[2][3] and Pliny the Elder uses it with the river that does the flooding.^[3][5] The TLL notes that the word belongs to prose only.^[6]

The Vulgate uses it figuratively of the refreshment of the bones in Proverbs,^[3][5] and Ecclesiastical Latin kept the senses of moistening and watering.^[7] Medieval British writers, beginning with Bede, used it both of watering and figuratively.^[8] English borrowed it in the 17th century as irrigation, also of supplying a liquid to a part of the body.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro writes of irrigations in his treatise on farming.^[3][10]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the watering of fields in De officiis and De senectute.^[3][5][10]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of the flooding of a river.^[3][5][10]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it figuratively of refreshment.^[3][10]
• 1610s – English borrows it as irrigation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The flooding or drenching of land; irrigation.^[2][3]
2. (figurative) Refreshment.^[3][5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Moistening, watering.^[7]

Related words

• irriguus
• English irrigation

References

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