refugio

Forms

refugiō (present infinitive refugere, perfect active refūgī); third (-iō variant) conjugation, no supine stem, impersonal in the passive^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin re- (“back”) + fugiō (“to flee”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces fugiō to Proto-Italic *fugi- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰug-i- (“to flee”), cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius, in a tragedy, of fear: quīn refugiat timidō sanguen atque exalbēscat metū, “so that the blood shrinks back in fear and he turns pale with dread”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to turn and flee, run away, as Caecilius asks why someone did not flee once he knew the lures, and transitively to run from weapons (Cicero).^[2] It is also to flee to someone for protection, and to have recourse to something, as Cicero turns to admonishing Atticus to avoid painful memories.^[2] Things recede or shrink back, and coasts run back, as Asia recedes to the south in Mela.^[2] Transitively it is to shrink from something, as Ovid's laurel, Daphne's new body, shrinks from Apollo's kisses, and to shrink from an action: Cicero reproaches someone for shrinking from speaking out of modesty.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “flee, escape, take flight”.^[4]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of blood shrinking back in fear.^[2][5]
• 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius of running away.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of fleeing to envoys and of shrinking from speaking.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the laurel shrinking from kisses.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To flee back, run away, escape.^[2][1][4]
2. To flee (to) for protection; to have recourse (to).^[2]
3. To shrink back, recoil;^[2] (of coasts) to recede.^[2]
4. (transitive) To shrink from, avoid, shun.^[2][1]

Word family

• refugium
• refugus

Related words

• fugiō
• cōnfugiō
• profugiō
• English refuge

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de