Etymologically
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mergo

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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

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