Etymologically
Log in

morigerus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 12:55. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [moːˈrɪ.ɡɛ.rʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [moˈriː.d͡ʒe.rus][1]

Forms

mōrigerus (feminine mōrigera, neuter mōrigerum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mōs (“custom, will”) + gerō (“to carry, conduct”) + -us, from the phrase ⟨mōrem gerere⟩ “to humour someone”;[1][2][3] the OLD gives the second part as -ger.[4] De Vaan traces mōs to Proto-Italic *mōs- and Proto-Indo-European *m(e)h₁-ōs (“manner”), perhaps from the root *meh₁- (“to measure”), although other reconstructions are possible.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and de Vaan record it first in Naevius.[6][5] In Plautus it describes obedience: meo me aequom est morigerum patri, “it is right that I should humour my father”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means compliant, obliging or obedient, used absolutely or with a dative, and Georges notes that it often has a sexual sense, of a woman who yields.[7][4] Lewis & Short call it ante- and post-classical:[2] after Plautus, Terence and Afranius, Lucretius uses it of nature that is mōrigera ad frūgēs augendās, “willing to increase the crops”,[7][8] and of compliant manners,[4] and it returns in Apuleius, of a mirror image that follows its owner's every nod.[2][7] Firmicus Maternus writes of wives never compliant to their husbands.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[6][5][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of obedience to a father.[2][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence has tibi mōrigera fuit in rēbus omnibus.[7][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius applies it to nature and to manners.[7][4][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius revives it.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Compliant, obliging, indulgent, obedient; often of a woman who yields to a man.[4][2][7]
  2. Of actions or manners, compliant, accommodating.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier