Etymologically
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irrigo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪr.rɪ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈir.ri.ɡo][1]

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

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