Etymologically
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refugus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrɛ.fʊ.ɡʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛː.fu.ɡus][1]

Forms

refugus (feminine refuga, neuter refugum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin refugiō (“to flee back”) + -us,[2][1] and that verb is a compound of re- and fugiō (“to flee”).[2] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰug-i- (“to flee”) and is cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL date it from Ovid,[4][5] who writes that Tantalus stopped snatching at the receding water (nec Tantalus undam captāvit refugam).[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it mostly in poets,[5] and Lewis and Short note that it is poetic and post-Augustan, absent from Virgil and Horace.[7] Lucan uses it of the Parthians fleeing back, of the Ocean withdrawing at the ebb and of hair swept back from the forehead,[2][5][7] Statius of the receding sea,[5] and Ausonius of oysters left bare by the shallows.[5] Tacitus has it of cavalry that fell back on purpose, and as a noun for fugitives.[7][6] Ambrose uses it with a genitive, of someone who shuns fasting.[7][6]

Medieval British writers used it of people who flee, also figuratively, and William of Malmesbury of receding hair.[8]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the water that eludes Tantalus.[2][4]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of the receding sea.[5][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of retreating cavalry and, as a noun, of fugitives.[7][4]
  • c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it of shallows left by the tide.[5][4]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it with a genitive, of shunning a fast.[7][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Fleeing back, fleeing away.[2][7][6]
  2. Receding, drawing back (of water, the tide, hair).[2][7][8]
  3. (Late Latin, with a genitive) Shunning, avoiding.[7][6]

Noun

  1. A fugitive.[7][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press