redigo

Forms

redigō (present infinitive redigere, perfect active redēgī, supine redāctum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin re- (“back”) + agō (“to drive”), with the form ⟨red-⟩ of the prefix before a vowel.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces agō to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”), cognate with Oscan acum (“to act”) and Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Amphitruo: Jupiter will bring Alcmena back (rediget) into her old harmony with her husband.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to drive back, as Varro's bulls driven back into the herd, to repel an enemy, to move a camp back, and in the jurists to gather in crops.^[2] It is to bring back or restore, and Terence has in memoriam redigere, to recall.^[2] It is to reduce a substance to another form, and Cicero speaks of bringing the scattered civil law into a system.^[2] Cato uses it of narrowing a kiln; with money it is to realize a sum by selling (Cicero) or to pay it in.^[2] Above all it is to bring someone into a condition, to reduce: Plautus' wives who reduce their husbands to slavery by their spending.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “reduce, drive back” and also “treat with contempt”.^[6] English redact (late 14th century) comes from its participle redāctus.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of restoring and of reducing to slavery.^[2][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of narrowing a kiln.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of recalling to mind.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of realizing money and bringing law into a system.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English redact.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To drive or bring back; to repel; to gather in (crops).^[2][1][6]
2. To restore, in memoriam redigere, to recall.^[2]
3. To convert, reduce (to another form or a system).^[2][1]
4. To reduce, bring down (in size or number).^[2][1]
5. To realize (money by selling); to pay in.^[2][1]
6. To bring (into a condition), reduce (to).^[2][1][6]

Word family

• redāctus

Related words

• agō
• English redact

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson