Etymologically
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turgesco

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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

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