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pigritia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pigritia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (piger)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin piger
Latin pigritia
Latin impiger
Latin impigre
Latin pigre

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɪˈɡrɪ.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [piˈɡrit.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

pigritia f (genitive pigritiae); first declension[1] There is also a fifth-declension form pigritiēs.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin piger (“sluggish”) + -itia.[2][3][1] De Vaan finds no root etymology for the adjective.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[4][5] whose Mercator tells someone to drive away weariness and not give way to sluggishness.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is lack of energy, sluggishness, in living beings or things,[2] and laziness:[2][6] Cicero defines it as fear of the labour to come, and tells a friend not to think it laziness that he does not write in his own hand.[2][6] Livy uses it of a failure to act, asking what ignorance of war and what sloth this is.[2] Livy also has a fifth-declension accusative pigritiem.[3] Döderlein ranks it with sēgnitia, dēsidia and sōcordia as faults of too easy a temperament, pigritia being a dislike of all movement.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sluggishness.[2][4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of laziness.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of sloth in war.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Lack of energy, sluggishness.[2][6][1]
  2. Laziness, sloth, indolence; disinclination to act.[2][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Pigritia.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pigritia. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·