repugno

Forms

repugnō (present infinitive repugnāre, perfect active repugnāvī, supine repugnātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin re- (“back, against”) + pugnō (“to fight”).^[2][3] ⟨pugnō⟩ is from pugna (“fight”), which de Vaan groups with pugnus (“fist”) and pungō (“to prick”) under Proto-Italic *pung- and Proto-Indo-European *pu-n(e)-g/k-, cognate with Ancient Greek πύξ (púx, “with the fist”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pacuvius, in a tragedy: repugnantī ego porrō hunc vī dētrāxī ungulum, “as he resisted, I tore this ring off him by force”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to fight back and defend oneself, as Caesar's soldiers resisted bravely while their strength was fresh.^[2][5] It is used of natural forces, and of political opposition, as when the conservatives opposed Gaius Gracchus' grain law (Cicero).^[2] Inwardly it is to struggle against an impulse, or against doing something, and to strive to prevent something.^[2] In argument it is to object or protest, often in the polite nōn repugnābō, “I will not object”, and, of things, to be inconsistent with each other (Lucretius: the senses would fight against the senses).^[2][5]

Church Latin glosses it “resist, disagree with, fight against, deny”.^[6] English repugn came through Old French in the late 14th century;^[3] repugnant is from the present participle.^[3]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of a man fighting back.^[2][7]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of arguments that contradict themselves.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of political opposition and of reason resisting.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – English repugn, through Old French.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fight back, resist, defend oneself.^[2][5][1]
2. To struggle (against an impulse or influence); to strive to prevent.^[2]
3. To object, protest, argue against.^[2][6]
4. (of things) To be inconsistent or incompatible.^[5]
5. To be unmoved (by entreaties); (of fate) to stand against.^[2]

Word family

• repugnantia
• repugnātiō
• repugnātōrius

Related words

• pugnō
• pugna
• English repugnant

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de