Etymologically
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origo

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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

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