irrigo

Forms

irrigō (present infinitive irrigāre, perfect active irrigāvī, supine irrigātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled inrigō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + rigō (“to water, moisten”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan notes that the compound is attested earlier than the simple verb, which appears only from Lucretius on, and thinks the compound clearly the older form.^[4] He considers that rigō may share the root of regō (“to guide”), so that the compound first meant to lead water onto the fields, and reconstructs Proto-Italic *rig-ā- (“to lead toward”) and Proto-Indo-European *Hriǵ- (“to stretch”).^[4] Others connect a root meaning to flow; de Vaan finds that this leaves the problem of the Latin forms unsolved.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] In the OLD's earliest quotation, from Plautus, a character speaks of refreshing one's old age with Leucadian wine.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to wet with a flowing liquid, to flood or drench, and so to water land or plants: Cato tells the farmer to sprinkle or pour olive lees on the trees.^[2] Cicero writes that the Nile waters Egypt, and Catullus of a spring that waters a cave.^[2][6] Figuratively it is to refresh or nourish, and to spread a feeling through the body.^[2] The manuscripts write ⟨inr-⟩ and ⟨irr-⟩ without distinction.^[3] Church Latin glosses it to water, irrigate.^[7] English irrigate comes from its past participle, from the 1610s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of refreshing oneself with wine.^[2][4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of pouring olive lees on trees.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the Nile watering Egypt.^[2][6][5]
• 1610s – English irrigate is formed from its past participle.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wet with a flowing liquid, to flood, drench.^[2][1]
2. To water land or plants, to irrigate; of rivers, to water the country around.^[2][6][7]
3. Figuratively, to refresh, nourish.^[2]
4. To make a liquid flow over something; figuratively, to diffuse, shed a sensation.^[2][6]
5. To overwhelm.^[1]

Word family

• irrigātiō
• irrigātor
• irrigīuus

Related words

• rigō
• irriguus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com