nugor

Forms

nūgor (present infinitive nūgārī, perfect active nūgātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nūgae (“trifles, jokes”) + -or.^[2][1] For nūgae de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *knūg- and finds no Indo-European etymology; since words for trifles are often made from words for nuts or seeds, he thinks a link with nux (“nut”) quite likely, though the different vowel and consonant suggest a loanword.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,^[2][4] as in nugare in re capitali mea, “you trifle in a matter of life and death for me”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to speak or act without seriousness, trifle, play the fool, talk nonsense;^[2][5] Cicero says that Democritus non inscite nugatur, ut physicus, “talks nonsense not unskilfully, for a natural philosopher”, and Horace uses it of trifling with someone at leisure and of Greece taking to frivolity once its wars were over.^[2][5] Pliny the Elder uses it of authors who gave their books punning titles.^[2] In Plautus it also means, with a dative, to tell tall stories, impose on someone, trick or cajole.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of trifling and of tricking someone.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Democritus.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of Greece after its wars.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To trifle, jest, play the fool, talk nonsense.^[2][5][1]
2. (with a dative) To tell tall stories to, impose on, cajole.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• nūgāmentum
• nūgātor
• nugatrix
• nūgāx
• nūgō

Usage notes

Lewis and Short compare Ancient Greek φλυαρέω (phluaréō) and give lūdō as a synonym.^[5]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press