robigo

Forms

rōbīgō f (genitive rōbīginis); third declension^[1] Also spelled rūbīgō.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rōbus (“red”) + -īgō.^[2][1] De Vaan explains rōbus as a dialectal form, with /oː/ instead of /uː/, of the adjective found in rūfus.^[3] This goes back to Proto-Italic *rouþo- (“red”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁roudh-o- (“red”).^[3] Lewis and Short compare the formation of aerūgō and ferrūgō.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Plautus,^[3][5] who uses it for the red deposit on metal: hoc quidem pol e robigine, non e ferro factum est, “this, by Pollux, is made of rust, not of iron”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is rust on metals;^[2] Cato says that iron left unused is destroyed by rust.^[2] Juvenal speaks of cups of an old temple whose rust is to be revered, and the word was used of similar deposits and coatings on stone, crystals, salt and acorns.^[2] Figuratively, Seneca speaks of rubbing the rust off dull minds and Tacitus of words that seem infected with rust, that is, outdated.^[2]

Applied to crops it meant blight or mildew of corn and vines: Varro says that a god is offered sacrifice so that blight may not seize the crops, and Ovid names a grove of ancient Robigo, a goddess of the blight beside the god Rōbīgus.^[2] It was also used of a foul deposit on the teeth, as in Ovid's Envy, whose teeth are livid with it, and of corroding sores.^[2]

It continues in Romanian rugină and, through a reshaped Vulgar Latin form, in French rouille, and Italian rubigine also continues it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for rust on metal.^[2][3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for blight on crops.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid names the goddess Robigo and uses the word of tartar on the teeth.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus applies it to outdated words.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Rust on metals.^[2][4][1]
2. (as a sign of age) Rust, the deposit of antiquity.^[2]
3. A similar deposit or rust-like coating on other things.^[2]
4. Blight, mildew or rust on corn and vines.^[2][1]
5. The goddess of blight, Robigo.^[2]
6. A foul deposit in the mouth, tartar; a corroding sore.^[2]

Word family

• rōbīginō
• rōbīginōsus

Related words

• rubeus
• rōbus
• Rōbīgālia
• rūfus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de