nigro Latin · revision 36357

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la niger}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈnɪ.ɡroː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈniː.ɡro]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nigrō''' (present infinitive nigrāre, perfect active nigrāvī, supine nigrātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|niger|-ō|t1=black]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the adjective, from Varro on, and calls the origin of the adjective unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Varro,^(de Vaan 2008) who uses the participle of black ox horns.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) Lucretius has the verb itself, warning the reader not to think that ''ea quae nigrant'', things that are black, are born from black seeds.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Intransitive, it means to be black, and its present participle ''nigrans'' was common in poetry for black or dark:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Virgil has bullocks with black backs, Ovid black wings, Propertius the dark homes of the silent souls, and Silius Italicus the dark sea.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Transitive, to make black, it appears in Statius, of a mother who had blackened her arms with beating them in grief.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Tertullian uses it figuratively of people darkened by the shadows of ignorance.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses the participle of black horns.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of things that are black.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the participle of black bullocks.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of blackening the arms.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of darkening by ignorance.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(intransitive)'' To be [[m|en|black]]; present participle ''nigrans'', black, dark.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To make black, [[m|en|blacken]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To [[m|en|darken]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dēnigrō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[niger]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}