pigre

Forms

pigrē (comparative pigrius); adverb^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin piger (“sluggish, lazy”) + -ē.^[1][3] The adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *pig-ro- (“inactive”), beside *pig-ē- (“to fill with revulsion”); de Vaan finds the root etymology unknown.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Ovid,^[3] who has surgit humo pigre, “rises sluggishly from the ground”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means sluggishly or slowly: Columella has pigre ac segniter agere, Seneca limbs dragged and feet moving sluggishly, Lucan waters standing more sluggishly than motionless marshes, and Statius clouds that cling more slowly.^[1][5][2] It also means reluctantly: Seneca writes of passing reluctantly from free Macedonian to Persian slavery and nec ideo pigrius dabo, sed diligentius, “I shall not give any less readily for that, but more carefully”,^[5][2][1] Pliny the Younger complains that people gather sluggishly to listen to readings,^[1][5] and Apuleius has pigre ac timide, hesitantly and timidly.^[1][2] Ammianus still uses the comparative.^[5]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of rising sluggishly.^[5][3]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of slow movement and of reluctant giving.^[1][3]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan uses the comparative of still water.^[1][3]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of acting hesitantly.^[1][3]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses the comparative.^[5][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Without energy, sluggishly, slowly.^[1][5]
2. Reluctantly.^[1][2]

Related words

• piger

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn