Etymologically
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navo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈnaː.woː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈnaː.vo][1]

Forms

nāvō (present infinitive nāvāre, perfect active nāvāvī, supine nāvātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled gnāvō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin nāvus (“busy, diligent”) + -ō.[2][1][3][4] De Vaan traces nāvus, also written ⟨gnāvus⟩, to Proto-Italic *gnāwo- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃-uo- (“knowing”), with a shift of meaning from "knowing" to "experienced" and "busy"; cognates include Old Irish gnó (“business”).[5] He notes that it may also have been formed after gnārus (“knowing”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it first, in letters and speeches;[2][4] he writes that no one is so crushed that he cannot do and achieve something.[4]

Semantic evolution

It means to do something with zeal and diligence.[4] Its commonest use is operam nāvāre, to busy oneself or to give one's help: Cicero has people who offer themselves unasked to give their services, and wishes he could have given Brutus his help and zeal;[2][4] Livy uses it of fighting vigorously in the battle line, and Tacitus of a man eager to do service.[4] Cicero also uses it of showing goodwill and zeal,[4] and of having succeeded in an aim by coming somewhere.[2][4] Tacitus has bellum nāvāre, to wage a war vigorously, and even flāgitium nāvāre, to commit a crime.[4] Stelten gives "act or perform with zeal or diligence" for Church Latin.[6] Manuscripts and glossaries also have the spelling gnāvō.[3][2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of doing something with zeal and of operam nāvāre.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of fighting vigorously.[4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of waging war vigorously.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To do with zeal, devote oneself to, prosecute (an activity); operam nāvāre, to busy oneself, give one's help.[2][4][1]
  2. To carry through, accomplish; to show (zeal, goodwill).[2][4]
  3. (of war) To wage vigorously;[4] (of a crime) to commit.[4]

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson