mergo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɛr.ɡoː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛr.ɡo]^[1]

Forms

mergō (present infinitive mergere, perfect active mersī, supine mersum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mezge/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *mesg-e/o- (“to sink, wash”).^[2][3] Cognate with Sanskrit मज्जति (májjati, “sinks, dives”) and Lithuanian mazgóti (“to wash”).^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it of chickens plunged into water.^[2][6] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[7]

Semantic evolution

It was to plunge or dip in liquid, to sink a ship, and of water to flood or engulf.^[4] In the passive it was used of stars sinking below the horizon.^[4] It was to bury, as Livy's men with their heads buried in the earth, to thrust deep, to hide in darkness, and to drown someone in sleep, pleasure or wine.^[4]

It survives as Italian mergere and Romanian merge.^[1] English merge is recorded in the 1630s, and emergency comes from ēmergō “to rise out”.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of heads buried in the earth.^[4][7]
• 1630s – English merge and emergency are recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To plunge, dip, immerse.^[4][6]
2. To sink (a ship); to drown.^[4][1]
3. Of water, to flood, engulf.^[4][1]
4. In the passive, to set (of stars).^[4]
5. To bury; to thrust deep.^[4][1]
6. To hide; to overwhelm (in sleep, wine).^[4]

Word family

• dēmergō
• ēmergō
• immergō
• mergito
• mergus
• mersito
• mersō
• remergo
• submergō
• immersābilis
• mergulus
• mersus

Related words

• English merge
• English emergency

References

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