prodigo

Forms

prōdigō (present infinitive prōdigere, perfect active prōdēgī, supine prōdāctum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + agō (“to drive”), with the prefix in the form ⟨prōd-⟩, as in redigō and redeō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest use is in a comedy of Naevius, of people who squander abroad what their fathers acquired.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “waste, squander” is found in the verse of Naevius, Plautus, Caecilius and Pomponius, and in the prose of Sallust, Tacitus, Suetonius and later writers;^[3][2] Plautus warns that what one squanders on a holiday one may lack on a working day.^[2][4] Festus explains it as “consumed, lost”.^[3] The literal “drive forth” is found only in Varro, of driving pigs into muddy lanes and chickens out into the sun.^[2][5] Gellius and Ammianus Marcellinus use it of giving up one's limbs or life to fortune or for victory,^[6][4] the jurist Modestinus uses it in the neutral sense “use up, consume”,^[5][7] and Tertullian of driving away sleep.^[6] The participle prōdāctus is not found before Tertullian.^[3][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to drive forth.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of squandering an inheritance.^[2][9]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of spending on a holiday.^[2][9]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of driving pigs out.^[2][9]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of squandering others' property.^[2][9]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of squandering wealth.^[2][9]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian has the participle prōdāctus.^[6][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To drive forth, drive out.^[2][8]
2. To squander, waste, lavish.^[2][5]
3. To use up, consume.^[5][7]
4. (Late Latin) To drive away.^[6]

Word family

• prōdigentia
• prōdigus
• prōdiguus
• prōdāctus
• prōdigālitās
• prōdigē

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de