delego Latin · revision 9797

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=Plautus|origins=la lēx}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēlēgō''' (present infinitive dēlēgāre, perfect active dēlēgāvī, supine dēlēgātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dē-|lēgō|t1=away|t2=to send with a commission]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) ⟨lēgō⟩ is from [[m|la|lēx|t=law, contract]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*lēg-]].^(Etymonline)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of assigning a person to a task.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant to assign a person to a task or place, appoint, as in Plautus and Cato; to commit a task to someone, delegate, entrust, as in Tacitus' ''īnfāns dēlēgātur ancillae'' “the baby is handed over to a slave girl”, and with a gerundive or ''ut'' to order something to be done, as in Livy; and to ascribe, attribute.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to entrust, assign, send, transfer, delegate.^(Stelten 1995) Its participle ''dēlēgātus'' gave English ''delegate'' (late 15th century, a representative; the verb from the 1520s), and it survives as Italian ''delegare'', French ''déléguer'' and Spanish and Portuguese ''delegar''.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+ * late 15th century – English ''delegate'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|assign]] (a person to a task or place), appoint.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To commit (a task), [[m|en|delegate]], entrust; to order (something to be done).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dēlēgātiō]]

+ * [[delegator]]

+ * [[dēlēgātus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dēlēgātōrius]]

+ * [[lēgō]]

+ * [[lēgātus]]

+ * [[en|delegate]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''dēlegō'' is also an old spelling of [[dēligō]] “to choose”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}