prodigus

Forms

prōdigus (feminine prōdiga, neuter prōdigum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōdigō (“to squander”) + -us,^[2][1][3] and prōdigō is prō- and agō (“to drive”), with the ⟨d⟩ of redigō.^[2][4][1] De Vaan traces agō to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- (“to do, act”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”), Sanskrit अजति (ájati, “drives”) and Old Norse aka (“to drive”).^[5] Porphyrio and Isidore explain the prodigal as one who scatters his goods as if driving them forward.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[6] where a man is told he must have been a spendthrift in his youth.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means wasteful or prodigal of money and goods;^[2][4] Cicero distinguishes the prodigal, who spends on feasts, public meals and gladiatorial shows, from the liberal.^[2][4] It is also lavish of other things, as Horace's Faith that gives away secrets, and of gifts and spending extravagant, as Livy's prodigal largess.^[2] In a good sense it is lavish or unstinting, as Ovid's earth bountifully supplying riches and food.^[2] In a declamation it means unrestrained, of eyes that look at everyone.^[2] Gaius uses it of a spendthrift in law,^[6] and Church Latin glosses it “prodigal, profuse, extravagant”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a spendthrift youth.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the prodigal and the liberal.^[4][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a Faith prodigal of secrets.^[2][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the bountiful earth.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wasteful, prodigal, extravagant.^[2][4][1]
2. Lavish of other things; of gifts and spending, extravagant.^[2]
3. In a good sense, lavish, bountiful.^[2][1]
4. Unrestrained, licentious.^[2]

Word family

• prōdigitās
• prōdigālis

Related words

• prōdigō
• agō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes prodigus, the squanderer who disregards the value of money, from profusus, the spendthrift who grudges nothing for his pleasures;^[8] helluō and nepōs describe a whole character given to prodigality.^[8] Lewis & Short give largus and munificus as near-synonyms.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper