naufragium

Forms

naufragium n (genitive naufragiī or naufragī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from naufragus (“shipwrecked”) with -ium;^[2][3] the adjective is from nāvis (“ship”) and frangō (“to break”).^[4][5][6] De Vaan derives ⟨nāvis⟩ from Proto-Indo-European *neh₂-u- (“ship”), probably “the floating one”, cognate with Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”) and Sanskrit नौ (náu, “ship”), and ⟨frangō⟩ from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr-n-ǵ- (“to break”), cognate with Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Pacuvius as its first author;^[5] an unknown tragedy has “shipwrecks, the ruin of your family, don't you know them, old man?”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a shipwreck, and naufragium facere is to be wrecked, as Cicero's report that Domitius had died in a shipwreck.^[2][4][1] Figuratively it is a disaster or ruin, and the thing that causes ruin, as the elder Seneca's Charybdis, “the shipwreck of the sea itself”.^[2] It is also wreckage, as in Manilius, and the shattered remains of something, as Cicero's remnants of the same band of robbers.^[2][4] Wiktionary records the saying commūne naufragium omnibus sōlācium, a common shipwreck is a comfort to all.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “shipwreck”.^[8] In Medieval Latin it is the right to wreckage cast on the shore, and waste, loss or ruin.^[9] English borrowed it as naufrage in the early 15th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of death in a shipwreck and of shattered remains.^[2][5]
• early 15th century – Borrowed into English as naufrage.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shipwreck;^[2][4][1][8] naufragium facere, to be wrecked.^[2][4]
2. A disaster, ruin; what causes ruin.^[2][1][9]
3. Wreckage; shattered remains.^[2][4]
4. (poetic) A storm.^[1]
5. (Medieval Latin) The right to wreckage.^[9]

Word family

• naufragālis
• naufragiōsus

Related words

• naufragus
• nāvis
• frangō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill