Etymologically
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mico

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmɪ.koː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmiː.ko][1]

Forms

micō (present infinitive micāre, perfect active micuī or micāvī); first conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mikaje-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *mikH-(e)ie- (“to blink”).[2][1] Cognate with Welsh edmygaf (“I admire”) and Upper Sorbian mikać (“to blink”), and with Slavic words meaning “to move abruptly” and “to see”; the first meaning may have been “to blink”.[2][3][4] The perfect micuī points to a root ending in a laryngeal.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius, whose half-dead eyes flicker.[2][3] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to make a sudden rapid movement, to quiver, dart or flicker, as the beating of the arteries in Cicero and a snake's darting tongue.[3][6] Of stars and fire it meant to flash or gleam, and of polished surfaces to glitter, as Virgil's bronze shields that flash.[3]

Micāre digitīs was the game of morra, guessing the total of fingers held up, and Cicero quotes the proverb of an honest man quīcum in tenebrīs mices, one you could play morra with in the dark.[3][6] Its compound dīmicō meant to fight.[6] Italian ammiccare “to wink” continues it.[1]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius speaks of flickering eyes.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the beating of the arteries and of morra.[6][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of flashing shields.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To quiver, dart, flicker, beat.[3][6]
  2. (of stars, fire) To flash, gleam.[3]
  3. (of surfaces, eyes) To glitter, sparkle.[3]
  4. micāre digitīs, to play morra.[3]

Word family

  • dīmicō
  • ēmicō
  • intermicō
  • micatio
  • mīcidus
  • praemicō
  • prōmicō
  • stēllimicāns
  • supermicō
  • coruscō

Usage notes

Döderlein counts micāre among the words for a light that flashes intermittently, as opposed to the steady brightness of lūcēre and splendēre.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ 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
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper