mitigo

Forms

mītigō (present infinitive mītigāre, perfect active mītigāvī, supine mītigātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from mītis (“mild, soft”) with the suffix -igō, as in pūrgō (“to cleanse”);^[2][3] Lewis and Short and Etymonline see in the ending the verb agō (“to drive, do”).^[4][5] De Vaan derives ⟨mītis⟩ from Proto-Italic *mīti- and Proto-Indo-European *m(e)h₁i-ti- (“soft”), cognate with Old Irish mín (“soft”), Lithuanian miẽlas (“dear”) and Old Church Slavonic милъ (milŭ, “pitiable”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is the comic poet Turpilius;^[2][7] Cicero has the summer heat that ripens some fruits and scorches others.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is first to make fruit soft and mellow, as Mela's Thrace that does not ripen or soften fruit, then to make wine less strong by diluting it and a season less severe.^[2][4] It is to lighten distress, as Cicero's “our labours are softened by great glory”, to make laws less harsh, and to tone down a statement.^[2]

It is also to soothe or reconcile people, as Cicero's people roused against good men, to assuage feelings such as hatred, and to make people milder, civilize or tame, as Cicero's “time will soften you, age will mellow you”.^[2][4] Church Latin glosses it “mitigate, subdue, diminish, weaken, give rest, soften”.^[8] English mitigate comes from its past participle, from the early 15th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – Turpilius.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of soothing people and making laws milder.^[2][7]
• 43/44 AD – Mela of ripening fruit.^[2][7]
• early 15th century – English mitigate.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make soft or mellow, ripen; to soften.^[2][4][1]
2. To make less potent; to make (a season) less severe.^[2]
3. To lighten, alleviate (distress); to make (laws) gentler; to tone down.^[2][1]
4. To soothe, appease, reconcile; to moderate (emotions).^[2][1]
5. To make milder, civilize; to tame.^[2][4]

Word family

• commītigō
• mītigātiō
• mītigātōrius

Related words

• mītēscō
• mītificō
• mītificus
• mītis
• lēniō
• English mitigate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson