spargo

Forms

spargō (present infinitive spargere, perfect active sparsī, supine sparsum); third conjugation^[1] Horace has the old passive infinitive spargier.^[2]

Etymology

De Vaan takes it as inherited from Proto-Italic *sparg-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sp(e)r-g- (“to strew”), comparing Hittite išpār- (“to spread out, strew”) and Ancient Greek σπείρω (speírō, “to strew, sow”).^[3] Most handbooks instead connect it with words for crackling sounds, such as Sanskrit स्फूर्जति (sphū́rjati, “to roar, thunder”) and Ancient Greek σφαραγέομαι (spharagéomai, “to hiss, crackle”), from ⟨*sperh₂g-⟩; de Vaan rejects this, because the Latin verb has no sense of sound and ⟨*CrHC⟩ would give Latin ⟨CrāC⟩.^[3][1] Schrijver compares only English sprinkle and Dutch sprenkelen, which have the same meaning.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[3] Ennius has hastātī spargunt hastās, fit ferreus imber, “the spearmen shower their spears, an iron rain falls”, and Cato stercus columbīnum spargere oportet in prātum, “pigeon dung should be scattered on the meadow”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Spargere is “to scatter, sprinkle, strew” (Virgil: sparge, marīte, nucēs, “scatter the nuts, bridegroom”), “to shower” missiles or blows, and “to send out” light in all directions.^[4][2][1] It is used of a road or river branching out, of casting one's eyes about, and of driving people apart (Virgil: the Trojan race magnum quae sparsa per orbem, “scattered over the wide world”).^[4] It is “to distribute over a wide area” (Livy: scouts sparsī per viās, “posted along the roads”), “to intersperse” in writing, and “to spread” reports or someone's fame.^[4][1]

Church Latin glosses it “sow, fling, scatter, strew, sprinkle”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius: hastātī spargunt hastās.^[4][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato: stercus columbīnum spargere.^[4][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: sparge, marīte, nucēs.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To scatter, sprinkle, strew.^[4][2][1][5]
2. To shower (missiles, blows); to throw about.^[4][1]
3. To send out in all directions (light).^[4]
4. To spread out in branches.^[4]
5. To cast (the eyes) about.^[4]
6. To scatter, disperse.^[4][1]
7. To distribute widely; to intersperse.^[4]
8. To spread (reports, fame).^[4]
9. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To sow.^[5]

Word family

• aspergō
• circumspergō
• cōnspergō
• exspergō
• īnspergō
• interspergō
• perspergō
• praespargō
• respergō
• sparsilis
• sparsim
• sparsiō

Related words

• dispergō

Usage notes

A noun spargō, genitive sparginis, “a sprinkling, spray”, is found in Venantius Fortunatus,^[2] and in Medieval Latin it is “a speck, a drop”.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill