Etymologically
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lethargus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫeːˈtʰaːr.ɡʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [leˈtar.ɡus][1]

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

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