Etymologically
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prodigo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈproː.dɪ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɔː.di.ɡo][1]

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

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