turgesco

Forms

turgēscō (present infinitive turgēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin turgeō (“to be swollen”) + -scō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds no clear etymology for turgeō; its meaning makes a link with ⟨-tūrāre⟩ “to block” possible.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] The earliest passages the dictionaries quote are in Varro, who writes of preventing water from swelling in their bodies: ne aqua in eorum corpore turgescat.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It means “to begin to swell”, especially of plants as they grow and ripen: Ovid says that Ceres first taught the seed to swell in the fields,^[2][7] and Pliny the Elder uses it of shoots, vines and barley.^[2] Pliny also uses it of a swelling throat.^[7]

Figuratively it was used of swelling passion: Cicero has the verse cor meum penitus turgescit tristibus iris (“my heart swells deep within with grim wrath”) and says that the wise man's mind never swells with it.^[3][7][6] Of style it meant to become bombastic, in Quintilian, and Persius uses it of a page swelling with trifles.^[6][7] Cassiodorus uses the participle of a villa rising proudly on a height.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of water swelling in the body.^[5][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a heart swelling with anger.^[3][7][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of seed swelling in the fields.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of shoots and vines.^[2][8]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of bombastic style.^[6][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To begin to swell, swell up.^[2][5]
2. Of plants, to swell as a sign of growth or ripening.^[2]
3. (figurative) To swell with passion or anger.^[3][6]
4. (rhetoric) Of style, to become bombastic.^[6][7]

Word family

• inturgesco
• obturgescō

Related words

• turgidus

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de