origo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɔˈriː.ɡoː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [oˈriː.ɡo]^[1]

Forms

orīgō f (genitive orīginis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin orior (“to rise, arise”) + -īgō.^[2][3] The verb is inherited from Proto-Italic *or-i- (“to rise”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃r-i- (“to rise”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,^[3] whose history of Rome was called Orīginēs.^[4] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant the coming into being of something, its first appearance or beginning, and the rise or origination of a thing with regard to its cause.^[2] By metonymy it was the source from which something comes, as when Cicero calls the choice of words the origin of eloquence.^[2] Of a person or people it was descent, birth or extraction, and by extension the founder of a family or the mother city of a colony: Virgil calls Aeneas the origin of the Roman stock.^[2]

In medieval British Latin it was beginning and creation, and ab orīgine mundī was from time immemorial.^[6] It was borrowed into Italian origine and Spanish origen, and English origin meant at first “ancestry, race”, about 1400.^[1][7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it, and calls his history Orīginēs.^[3][4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the beginning of things.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Aeneas the founder of the Roman race.^[2][5]
• c. 1400 – English origin “ancestry” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A coming into being, beginning.^[2]
2. Origination, rise.^[2]
3. A source, origin.^[2]
4. Descent, birth, lineage.^[2]
5. The founder of a family or race; the mother city of a colony.^[2]

Word family

• orīginālis
• orīginārius
• orīginātiō
• originitus

Related words

• orior
• aborīginēs
• English origin
• English original
• English orient

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com