Etymologically
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uligo

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Forms

ūlīgō f (genitive ūlīginis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ūmeō (“to be wet”) according to de Vaan, who lists it among that verb's derivatives.[2] The OLD analyses it as a stem ⟨ūl-⟩, which it compares with ūdus (“wet”) and with that verb, and the suffix -īgō.[3] Lewis & Short and Wiktionary explain it instead as a contraction of ⟨ūvilīgō⟩, from the family of ūvidus (“damp”).[4][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *ūmo- (“wet”) and Proto-Indo-European *uh₁-mo- (“wet”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cato on,[2][5] meaning waterlogged ground.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is the natural dampness of the soil and marshy ground, in Varro, Columella, Virgil, Silius Italicus and Tacitus;[4][3] Servius comments on Virgil's use of it.[4]

In British Medieval Latin it meant a marsh or bog, and also a jelly-like substance found on wet ground, popularly called a “fallen star”.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for waterlogged ground.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of damp land.[4][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Georgics.[4][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of marshy ground.[4][5]
  • 986 – An English charter compares vanishing prosperity to the moisture of the earth.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Waterlogged ground, a marsh; the dampness of the soil.[3][4]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A bog.[6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A jelly-like growth on wet ground, nostoc.[6]

Word family

  • ūlīginōsus

Usage notes

Lewis & Short give ūmor as a near synonym.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
  6. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press