Etymologically
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profugio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prɔˈfʊ.ɡi.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈfuː.d͡ʒi.o][1]

Forms

profugiō (present infinitive profugere, perfect active profūgī); third (-iō variant) conjugation, no supine stem, impersonal in the passive[1] The first syllable is normally short; a Vetus Latina manuscript has the perfect profugiit.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin prō- (“forward, away”) + fugiō (“to flee”).[3][2][1] The TLL compares Ancient Greek προφυγεῖν (prophugeîn, “to flee away”) in Homer.[2] De Vaan traces fugiō to Proto-Italic *fugi- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰug-i- (“to flee”), cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Captivi: a slave stole the boy and, running away (hinc profugiēns), sold him.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to run away or escape, and with ad to flee to someone for help (Cicero: a son wanted to take refuge with Brutus).[3] It is also to leave one's home or country for good, as in Terence's son who ran away because of poverty, and profugere in exilium.[3] From Accius on it is used transitively, to flee from a person or place, as Horace's Phocaeans left their fields and homes under a curse.[3][5] Church Latin glosses it “flee away”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a runaway slave.[3][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of a son leaving home.[3][7]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius, transitive, of fleeing an enemy.[3][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of the Phocaeans abandoning their city.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To run away, flee, escape.[3][1][6]
  2. (with ad) To flee for help (to someone).[3]
  3. To leave one's home or country; to go into exile.[3]
  4. (transitive) To flee from; to abandon (a place).[3][5]

Word family

  • profugus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de