piget

Forms

piget (present infinitive pigēre, perfect active piguit or pigitus est, supine pigitum); second conjugation, impersonal, optionally semi-deponent^[1] Ennius has a present pigret.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pig-ē- (“to fill with revulsion”), beside *pig-ro- (“inactive”), the source of piger “sluggish”.^[3] The further origin of the root is unknown.^[3] De Vaan rejects a direct comparison with Old Norse feikn (“crime”) and Old English fācen, which he assigns to Proto-Germanic *faiχ-.^[3] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *peyǵ-.^[1]

The TLL suggests that a personal verb *pigeo “I am unwilling” first stood beside the adjective, as pudet stands beside a personal verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first author is Plautus;^[3] in the Menaechmi a speaker asks another to tell his name “unless it irks you” (nisi piget).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is an impersonal verb, with the accusative of the person and the genitive of the cause (piget incepti in Virgil), a pronoun, infinitive or clause, or no expressed cause at all.^[2][5] It was often paired with pudet: Terence has fratris me quidem pudet pigetque, “I am ashamed and sorry for my brother”.^[6] The gerundive pigendus was used in a passive sense, “to be regretted”, and the present participle pigēns meant “displeased”.^[2] Ecclesiastical Latin kept the impersonal meanings.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it without an expressed cause.^[2][8]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius has the form pigret with an infinitive.^[2][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence pairs it with pudet in the Adelphoe.^[6][8]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes piget incepti, with the genitive of the cause.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) To irk, vex, fill with displeasure or revulsion: mē piget “I am vexed, sorry”, with the genitive of the cause.^[2][9][5]
2. (impersonal) The same with an infinitive, a pronoun or a clause as the cause.^[2]
3. (impersonal) The same with no expressed cause.^[2]
4. (gerundive) To be regretted.^[2]
5. (present participle) Feeling displeased, irked.^[2]

Related words

• piger
• pigritia
• impiger

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from taedet and paenitet: piget is said of what one can neither do nor bear, taedet of what one can no longer bear, and paenitet of what one wishes one had never done or suffered.^[10]

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 l 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper