ago Latin · revision 2981

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Twelve Tables|origins=ine-pro *h₂eǵ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈa.ɡoː]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''agō''' (present infinitive agere, perfect active ēgī, supine āctum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Latin had the subjunctive ''axim'' (for ''egerim''), used by Pacuvius.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*ag-e/o-|t=to do, act]], [[inh|ine-pro|*h₂eǵ-e/o-|t=to drive, lead]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The long vowel of the perfect [[m|la|ēgī]] is hard to explain: Meiser took it over from the old perfect of [[aio|alt=aiō]] “to say”, but de Vaan notes that this fails if that verb had a different root, and suggests instead analogy with pairs such as [[facio|alt=faciō]], [[m|la|fēcī]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Cognate with [[osc|acum|t=to act (in law)]],^(de Vaan 2008) and further with [[sga|aigid|t=drives]], [[sa|अजति|tr=ájati|t=drives]], [[grc|ἄγω|tr=ágō|t=to lead, drive]] and [[non|aka|t=to drive, ride]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It appears in the Laws of the Twelve Tables and in Naevius.^(de Vaan 2008) The first sense in the OLD is to [[m|en|drive]] cattle, as in Plautus' “where did you want us to drive the victims?”^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From driving animals it spread to driving horses and chariots, to setting things in motion, and to making water flow.^(OLD 2012) ''Animam agere'', “to drive out the breath”, meant to be dying, and plants were said to put forth roots and shoots.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ The commonest Classical senses are to do or perform, to act, and to busy oneself with something.^(OLD 2012) In the theatre it meant to stage a play or play a part, and so to behave as or act the part of someone.^(OLD 2012) It meant to spend time or live a life, and Cicero's ''quartum ago annum et octogesimum'' means “I am in my eighty-fourth year”.^(OLD 2012) In business and public life it meant to transact, discuss and settle, and in law to bring an action or plead.^(OLD 2012) Scholastic philosophy set ''agere'', to act or produce an effect, against ''pati'', to undergo it.^(Schütz 1895) French ''agir'' and Italian ''agire'' were borrowed from it.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for driving sacrificial animals and for doing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for driving oxen.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for his age, the eighty-fourth year he is “passing”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To drive ([[m|en|cattle]] and other animals).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To drive or ride (a horse); to drive (a chariot).^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(reflexive)'' To go, make one's way.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To set in motion, stir; to make (liquids) flow.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''animam agere'' To breathe one's last.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(of plants)'' To put forth (roots, shoots).^(OLD 2012)

+ # To chase, pursue; to hunt.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To do, perform, [[m|en|accomplish]]; to act.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''age!'' Come on!^(OLD 2012)

+ # To stage, act (a play); to play the part of.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To spend (time), live (one's life); to be in (a given year of age).^(OLD 2012)

+ # To deal with, transact (business); to treat, negotiate.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To discuss, debate.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To deliver (a speech).^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(law)'' To bring an action, [[m|en|plead]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[abigō]]

+ * [[āctiō]]

+ * [[āctitō]]

+ * [[āctīvus]]

+ * [[āctor]]

+ * [[actorius]]

+ * [[āctrīx]]

+ * [[āctuārius]]

+ * [[actum]]

+ * [[āctus]]

+ * [[adigō]]

+ * [[agilis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[āctīvē]]

+ * [[āctuālis]]

+ * [[āctuāliter]]

+ * [[āctuāria]]

+ * [[āctuārium]]

+ * [[āctuōsē]]

+ * [[āctuōsus]]

+ * [[āctūtum]]

+ * [[agilitās]]

+ * [[agiliter]]

+ * [[en|act]]

+ * [[en|action]]

+ * [[en|agent]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein contrasts ''agere'', doing whose effect lasts only while one acts, with ''facere'', making something that remains, and ''agere'' in one's own interest with ''gerere'', carrying out a task for someone else.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}