Etymologically
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propago

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [proːˈpaː.ɡoː], [prɔˈpaː.ɡoː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [proˈpaː.ɡo][1]

Forms

prō̆pāgō (present infinitive prō̆pāgāre, perfect active prō̆pāgāvī, supine prō̆pāgātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from prō- and the root of pangō “to fix, fasten”, Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- (“to attach”), so “to fasten down (a slip)”.[1][2] The OLD derives it from the noun ⟨prōpāgēs⟩ “offspring, slip”.[3] The TLL takes it, like the nouns ⟨prōpāgēs⟩ and ⟨prōpāgō⟩, from a lost *prōpingere, compare compāgō from compingō.[4] The first vowel is long in Lucretius and inscriptions, short in other places of Lucretius and in Silius.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Cato, of propagating a plant by layers.[3] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to propagate a plant by layering or slips, as in Cato and Pliny, and more widely to make a plant reproduce, and in Varro to extend a plant by growth.[3][2][6] From Cicero it meant to continue a family or race by procreation, and to hand down a name or tradition to posterity.[3] It meant to prolong a period, as early as Pacuvius, to extend boundaries or a territory, as in Varro, and in Tacitus to increase.[3] Cicero speaks figuratively of perpetuating a thing.[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to spread, extend, enlarge, propagate.[7] English propagate came in the 1560s from its participle, and English propaganda from the New Latin Congregātiō dē prōpāgandā fidē.[8]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of layering plants.[3][5]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of prolonging.[3][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of extending boundaries.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of continuing a race.[3][5]
  • 1560s – English propagate is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To propagate a plant by layers or slips; to make a plant reproduce.[3]
  2. To continue a family by procreation.[3]
  3. To hand down to posterity, perpetuate.[3]
  4. To prolong.[3]
  5. To extend, enlarge; to increase.[3]

Word family

Usage notes

The noun prōpāgō, -inis (usually with short prŏ-) meant a layer or slip for propagating a plant, as in Cicero, and figuratively offspring, a generation or race, as in Lucretius and Ovid.[3][2] It survives in Italian propaggine and French provin.[1] Döderlein lists it among words for descendants, as against stirps and genus for ancestry.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper