caligo Latin · revision 31106

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *kāli-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cālīgō''' ''f'' (genitive cālīginis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is sometimes written ''callīgō''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Like other nouns in [[m|la|-īgō]] it may be formed from an adjective, perhaps [[itc-pro|*kāli-|t=dark]], but the origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The OLD compares [[sa|काल|tr=kāla|t=black, dark blue]] and [[grc|κηλάς|tr=kēlás|t=mottled]]; de Vaan notes that the Sanskrit word is still accepted by Leumann but rejected by Mayrhofer, keeps the Greek words, including [[m|grc|κηλίς|alt=κηλῑ́ς|tr=kēlī́s|t=stain, spot]], and thinks the likeliest Latin cognate is [[m|la|calidus|t=with a white mark on the forehead]].^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler links it to a root [[ine-pro|*kāl-|t=spotted]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler give Plautus as its first author,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) and the TLL adds Ennius, whose tragedy has “a darkness arose”.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a condition that hides or excludes sight: the darkness of night or storms, as Cato's eclipses when darkness blocks the light of moon or sun, and the darkness of the underworld.^(OLD 2012) It is the obscurity of mist or fog, of dust and of thick smoke, as Lucretius' torches “with much murk”, and in the poets and post-Augustan prose a mist or vapour.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of the eyes it is blurred sight, as Livy's soldiers dizzy with the height of the ladders, and the darkness of death, blindness or a faint.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Figuratively it is gloom, as Cicero's money hidden “in that darkness” that covered the state, moral or intellectual darkness, and the dizziness of sudden good fortune in Seneca.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it “darkness, cloud, mist, dark cloud”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of a darkness rising.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of darkness blocking the light of moon or sun.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the murk of smoke.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of gloomy circumstances and moral darkness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of dizziness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|darkness|alt=Darkness]], gloom (of night, storms, the underworld).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|mist|alt=Mist]], [[m|en|fog]]; a cloud of dust or smoke.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Dimness of sight; the darkness of death, blindness or a faint.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Gloom, dark circumstances; moral or intellectual darkness; dizziness.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cālīgineus]]

+ * [[cālīginōsus]]

+ * [[cālīgōsus]]

+ * [[cālīgātiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[calidus]]

+ * [[nebula]]

+ * [[tenebrae]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The first-conjugation verb ''cālīgō'' (infinitive ''cālīgāre''), “to be dark; to see dimly”, is formed from the noun; it is found from Cicero on, and perhaps already in Pacuvius as “to make dark”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}