Etymologically
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refrigero

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛˈfriː.ɡɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [reˈfriː.d͡ʒe.ro][1]

Forms

refrīgerō (present infinitive refrīgerāre, perfect active refrīgerāvī, supine refrīgerātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + frīgus (“cold”), with the suffix of first-conjugation verbs,[2][3][4] like vulnerō (“to wound”) from vulnus (“wound”).[3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of frīgus, which goes back to Proto-Italic *srīgos- and Proto-Indo-European *sriHǵ-o/es- (“frost, bitter cold”).[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ῥῖγος (rhîgos, “cold, frost”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL date it from Cato,[5][3] whose farm manual says to store grain once it has been cooled.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is to bring down the temperature of something, to cool or chill:[2][7] Varro has granaries cooled by wind from below, Cicero a fire thrown into water that is put out and cooled, and Ovid sua membra refrigerat unda, “cools his limbs in the wave”.[2][6] Gellius equates it with Greek ψύχειν (psúkhein).[3] In medicine it meant to reduce heat or inflammation, or to act as a cooling remedy, as in Celsus and Pliny the Elder.[2][8]

Figuratively it meant to make something lose its force, as an accusation that has grown weary and cold in Cicero, or to make a person lose zeal, as in Quintilian and Suetonius;[2][8] Velleius uses it of a man coldly treated by Antony.[2] In Christian Latin it took the senses to refresh, relieve and comfort,[9][4] and Christian inscriptions in Rome from the 4th century write it in Greek letters.[3] English refrigerate comes from its past participle.[10]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of cooling grain.[2][11]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of fire cooled in water.[2][11]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of cooling the body.[2][11]
  • c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius uses it of being treated coldly.[2][11]
  • 4th century AD – Christian inscriptions in Rome use it in Greek letters.[3]
  • 1530s – English refrigerate is formed from it.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cool down, chill.[2][7]
  2. (medicine) To reduce (fever or inflammation); to act as a cooling remedy.[2][8]
  3. (figurative) To make (a thing) lose force; to make (a person) lose zeal; to treat coldly.[2][4]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To refresh, relieve, comfort.[9][4]

Word family

  • refrīgerātiō
  • refrīgerātōrius
  • refrīgerātrix
  • refrīgerium

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de