agilis Latin · revision 32373

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=120–67 BC, Sisenna|origins=ine-pro *h₂eǵ-e/o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈa.ɡɪ.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.d͡ʒi.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''agilis''' (neuter agile, comparative agilior, superlative agilissimus, adverb agiliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|agō|-ilis|t1=to drive, set in motion]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan lists it, dated from Sisenna, among the derivatives of [[m|la|agō]], which he traces to [[itc-pro|*ag-e/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂eǵ-e/o-|t=to drive, lead]], comparing [[grc|ἄγω|tr=ágō|t=to drive, lead]] and [[sa|अजति|tr=ájati|t=drives]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The historian Sisenna has it first, of a quick and easy victory.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means moving or easily moved, nimble or swift, as a horse in an unknown tragedy, a light fleet in Livy, and a nimble thumb on the lyre strings in Ovid.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of the mind it is alert or quick, and of a person energetic or busy, as Horace says that now he becomes active and plunges into the waves of public life.^(OLD 2012) Statius uses it of the sunrise that rouses living things to activity.^(OLD 2012) The TLL finds it after Sisenna only now and then in prose, in Livy and Velleius, more often in Seneca the Younger, and more often in poetry from Horace on.^(TLL) English [[m|en|agile]] came from it in the 1580s, through French and directly.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 120–67 BC – Sisenna of a quick victory.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of an active life.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a light fleet.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius of a rousing sunrise.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1580s – English [[m|en|agile]] is borrowed from it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Easily moved; moving easily, [[m|en|nimble]], swift, [[m|en|agile]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of the mind, [[m|en|alert]], quick.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|energetic|alt=Energetic]], active, busy.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of a victory, quick, easily won.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Rousing to activity.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[agilitās]]

+ * [[agiliter]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}