Etymologically
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pigre

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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]

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