ego Latin · revision 17715

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old Latin, Ardea vase inscription|origins=ine-pro *h₁eǵ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈɛ.ɡoː], [ˈɛ.ɡɔ]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɛː.ɡo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''egō̆''' (first person, nominative, plural nōs)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*egō]], [[inh|ine-pro|*h₁eǵ|t=I]], with a suffix that gave the long final vowel, as in Greek.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan thinks that several variants of the pronoun existed side by side in PIE: the bare stem in Baltic, a form with long /oː/ in Latin and Greek, and one ending in /-om/ in Indo-Iranian, Slavic and Germanic.^(de Vaan 2008) The other cases are built on a different stem (⟨mē⟩, ⟨mihi⟩, genitive ⟨meī⟩).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Cognate with [[xfa|eqo]], [[grc|ἐγώ|tr=egṓ]], [[sa|अहम्|tr=ahám]], [[lt|àš]], [[got|𐌹𐌺|tr=ik]] and [[hit|ūk]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An early inscription on a vase from Ardea writes it ''eqo''; in literature it is found from Livius Andronicus on.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Because the verb ending already shows the person, ''ego'' is used mainly for emphasis or contrast (“I for my part”), though colloquial Latin sometimes uses it without emphasis.^(OLD 2012) It is strengthened with ''-met'' (''egomet'') or ''-pte'' (''mēpte''), and ''cum'' follows it to make ''mēcum''.^(OLD 2012) The final vowel is usually short (''egŏ'') in all periods, long only now and then in the comic poets.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ English took the word in metaphysics by 1707 for “the self, that which thinks and acts”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 280–200 BC – Used by Livius Andronicus.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has ''egomet'' and the old accusative ''mēd''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * by 1707 – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|ego]] in metaphysics.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|I]] (nominative, usually emphatic); ''(oblique cases)'' me, myself.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(dative, “ethic”)'' For me, I'd have you know (in lively speech).^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''ad mē'', to my house;^(OLD 2012) ''ā mē'', from my house, out of my own money.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[egomet]]

+ * [[mēcum]]

+ * [[meus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mē]]

+ * [[nōs]]

+ * [[tū]]

+ * [[en|ego]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}