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porrigo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word porrigo

porrigo1 stretch out

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
280/260–before 200 BC, Livius Andronicus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₃reǵ-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɔr.rɪ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɔr.ri.ɡo][1]

Forms

porrigō (present infinitive porrigere, perfect active porrēxī, supine porrēctum); third conjugation[1] It is also contracted to porgō (Ennius, Plautus, Virgil).[2][3] Festus has the spelling porigam.[2]

Etymology

The verb is formed from the prefix por- (“forth”) and regō (“to direct, guide”).[2][1][4] De Vaan traces ⟨regō⟩ to Proto-Italic *reg-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-e/o- (“to stretch, direct”), cognate with Ancient Greek ὀρέγω (orégō, “to stretch out, reach”) and Sanskrit ऋञ्जति (r̥ñjáti, “stretches, directs”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus, in a tragedy, prays porrige, opitulā!, “reach out, help!”.[2] Plautus, Pseudolus: iamdūdum, sī dēs, porrēxī manum, “I've been holding out my hand for a while, if you'll give”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Porrigō is to stretch out the limbs, to lay someone out at full length in sleep or death (Virgil), and to extend something in a given direction, such as a battle line (Bellum Africum) or the sea spreading its waters (Ovid).[2] Figuratively it is to prolong time (Ovid of the winter hours), to lengthen a vowel or syllable (Quintilian), and to extend one's range (Horace).[2] Above all it is to hold out the hand, to reach for something, and to hold out for another to take, to offer: Cicero finds it foolish to refuse good things from the gods who offer them.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “extend, stretch out, hold out, reach out, spread out, present”.[6] English porrect (early 15th century) comes from its participle.[4]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus: porrige, opitulā!.[2][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of holding out a hand.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of gods offering good things.[2][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of lengthening a syllable.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stretch out, extend; to lay out at full length.[2][1][6]
  2. To spread out, extend (in a direction).[2][1]
  3. To prolong;[2] (grammar) to lengthen (a vowel).[2]
  4. To hold out, reach out (the hand).[2][6]
  5. To offer, present.[2][1][6]

Word family

  • exporrigō
  • porrēctiō
  • reporrigō

porrigo2 dandruff

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
c. 180–102 BC, Lucilius

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɔrˈriː.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [porˈriː.ɡo][1]

Forms

porrīgō f (genitive porrīginis); third declension[1]

Etymology

The noun is of unknown origin; it has the suffix -īgō of names of diseases.[1][2] Wiktionary finds a link with porrum (“leek”) or porrō (“forward”) unlikely, and Köbler thinks it was partly confused with prūrīgō (“itch”).[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it from Lucilius on.[7]

Semantic evolution

Porrīgō is scurf or dandruff on the head, in the medical writers Celsus and Scribonius Largus, in Pliny's remedies and in Horace;[2][3] Scribonius also uses it of other hairy parts of the body.[2][3] Of animals it is perhaps the mange: Juvenal speaks of the porrīgō of pigs.[3] Church Latin glosses it “dandruff, itch, lice”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.[7]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of scurf on the head.[3][7]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal of the mange of pigs.[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. scurf, dandruff; a scaly skin condition.[2][1][3][6]
  2. (of animals) Perhaps the mange.[3]

Word family

  • porrīginōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Porrigo.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/porrigo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·