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navigatio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word navigatio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*néh₂us)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin navigatio
English navigation

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [naː.wɪˈɡaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [na.viˈɡat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

nāvigātiō f (genitive nāvigātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from nāvigō (“to sail”) with the suffix -tiō.[2][3][4] De Vaan lists ⟨nāvigō⟩ under nāvis (“ship”), from Proto-Italic *nāw- and Proto-Indo-European *neh2-u- (“ship”), probably “the floating one”; cognate with Sanskrit नौ (náu-, “ship”), Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”) and Old Irish náu (“ship”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,[3] who in his speech on Pompey's command says that farming is abandoned and the merchants' sailing comes to a stop.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means sailing, voyaging by sea, and it is used in measuring distances by sea, as Pliny the Elder's Thule six days' sail from Britain.[2] It is also a particular voyage, as in Cicero's letter about the course of a friend's voyages, the first sailing of the season, a sea route, and the written record of a voyage, as those of Onesicritus and Nearchus in Pliny.[2][6]

Church Latin glosses it “voyage”.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of halted merchant sailing.[2][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of distances and voyage records.[2][3]
  • 1530s – Borrowed into English as navigation, through French or directly.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Sailing, navigation.[2][6][1]
  2. A voyage; a sailing, passage; a sea route.[2][6][1][7]
  3. The record of a voyage.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Navigatio.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/navigatio. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·