transfuga

Forms

trānsfuga m (genitive trānsfugae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun of agent from Latin trānsfugiō (“to desert to the enemy”),^[2][3] from trāns- and fugiō (“to flee”).^[1] The verb fugiō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg- (“to flee”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,^[3] who has “that deserter did not dare to tell the senate everything”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is one who goes over to the other side, a deserter or renegade; a jurist in the Digest says that it means not only one who deserts to the enemy in war.^[2][5] With a genitive it is one who deserts a place or a practice, as Lucan's “deserter of the world”, and in law a fugitive from custody, as from the mines.^[2] Döderlein says that the perfuga goes over as a traitor to his side, while the ⟨transfuga⟩ is a waverer who changes sides; both are usually soldiers.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a deserter.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deserter, one who goes over to the enemy; a renegade.^[2][5][1]
2. One who deserts a place or practice.^[2]
3. (law) A fugitive from custody.^[2]

Related words

• trānsfugiō
• perfuga
• fugiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper