prodigium Latin · revision 31593

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la agō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [proːˈdɪ.ɡi.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [proˈdiː.d͡ʒi.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''prōdigium''' ''n'' (genitive prōdigiī or prōdigī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Pacuvius has a genitive plural ''prōdigium''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is disputed: the OLD connects the second part either with [[agō|t=to drive, do]] or with [[aiō|t=to say]].^(OLD 2012) De Vaan and the TLL take it with [[prōdigō|t=to drive forth; to squander]], from ⟨agō⟩, the TLL thinking perhaps of signs the gods “drive forth”, though it finds the sense unclear.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) Wiktionary and Köbler derive it instead from [[m|la|prō-]] and ⟨aiō⟩, a thing “foretold”, comparing [[adagium|t=proverb]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) where someone exclaims: “this is a prodigy: sheep are speaking to us with human voices”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is an unnatural event or sign that foretells disaster, a portent, as in Accius, Cicero's speech on the answer of the soothsayers, and Livy.^(OLD 2012) It also means a monstrous situation, as when Cicero calls it a monstrous thing that cities' grain was rejected while Verres' own was accepted, and a monstrous person: Cicero calls Catiline “that monster and prodigy”.^(OLD 2012) It can also be a wonder, a marvel.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin has it for a wonder, prodigy, marvel, miracle,^(Stelten 1995) and Medieval Latin for a miracle.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of speaking sheep.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of portents and of Catiline as a monster.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An unnatural event portending disaster, a [[m|en|portent]], [[m|en|omen]], prodigy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A monstrous event or situation.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A monstrous person or thing, a [[m|en|monster]]; a wonder, marvel.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical and Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|miracle]].^(Stelten 1995)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[prōdigiālis]]

+ * [[prōdigiātor]]

+ * [[prōdigiōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[prōdigus]]

+ * [[portentum]]

+ * [[ostentum]]

+ * [[mōnstrum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein contrasts ''augurium'' and ''auspicium'', signs within the ordinary course of nature read by augurs and magistrates, with ''prōdigium'', ''ostentum'', ''portentum'' and ''mōnstrum'', which lie outside it: the ''prōdigium'' is full of meaning and consequences, the ''ostentum'' arouses wonder, the ''portentum'' terror, and the ''mōnstrum'' is unnatural and ugly.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}