lethargus

Forms

lēthārgus m (genitive lēthārgī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek λήθαργος (lḗthargos, “forgetful; drowsy”).^[2][1][3][4] Köbler analyses the Greek word as λήθη (lḗthē, “forgetting”) and ἀργός (argós, “idle”),^[3] and Etymonline explains it as “idle through forgetfulness”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Horace, who in the Satires tells of a man in the grip of a heavy lethargy.^[4][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The OLD treats an adjective, lethargic, and a noun of medicine, lethargy, made from it.^[2] Pliny the Elder has morbus lēthargus, the lethargic disease,^[4][6] Celsus writes the word in Greek,^[4] and Servius Sulpicius, quoted by Quintilian, uses the noun in the singular and plural.^[6] Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the patient, a person suffering from lethargy.^[6] Stelten keeps the adjective, drowsy or lethargic, for Ecclesiastical Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Satires.^[4][6][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder speaks of morbus lēthargus.^[4][6][3]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the patient.^[6][3]
• c. 950 – Köbler records it again from a British source.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. lethargic, drowsy.^[2][4][7]

Noun

1. (medicine) lethargy, a disease of heavy drowsiness.^[2][4][1]
2. A person suffering from lethargy.^[6]

Word family

• lēthārgicus
• lēthārgia

Related words

• English lethargy

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson