transfigo Latin · revision 33772

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''trānsfīgō''' (present infinitive trānsfīgere, perfect active trānsfīxī, supine trānsfīxum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|trāns-|fīgō|t1=across, through|t2=to fix, pierce]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reconstructs the root of [[m|la|fīgō]] as [[ine-pro|*dʰeigʷ-e/o-]] or ⟨*dʰiHgʷ-e/o-⟩, and compares [[lt|díegti|t=to plant, sting]]; the old form ⟨fīvere⟩ keeps the regular outcome of the labiovelar.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first,^(de Vaan 2008) in the ''Persa'': ''sagitta Cupido cor meum transfixit'', “Cupid has pierced my heart with an arrow”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is to pierce through with a weapon: Caesar has men pierced by javelins and shields pinned together by a single throw,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Cicero a spear by which a man had been pierced.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Livy uses it often of bodies and shields, and Plautus already has it with a Greek-style accusative of the part pierced.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Less often, and only in poetry, it is to drive the weapon itself through something, as Virgil's spear that doubles a man up with pain.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin keeps “pierce through, transfix”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of Cupid's arrow piercing the heart.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar, of men and shields pierced by javelins.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a man pierced by a spear.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of a spear driven through.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|pierce]] through, [[m|en|transfix]], run through.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(poetic)'' To drive or thrust a weapon through something.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fīgō]]

+ * [[cōnfīgō]]

+ * [[affīgō]]

+ * [[trāiciō]]

+ * [[en|transfix]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}