adagium

Latin

Alternative forms

• adagiō

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

A later variant of adagiō, ostensibly from ad- (“toward, to”) +‎ aiō (“say”), but due to sporadic attestation and the word-internal a might not be inherited and rather formed to adigō (“drive, hurl, compel”), from ad- (“toward, to”) +‎ agō (“do, make”). If inherited, the preserved a is by the same vowel harmony as in alacer, calamitās, segetis.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aˈda.ɡi.um/, [äˈd̪äɡiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈda.d͡ʒi.um/, [äˈd̪äːd͡ʒium]

Noun

adagium n (genitive adagiī or adagī); second declension

1. proverb, adage

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	adagium	adagia
Genitive	adagiī adagī1	adagiōrum
Dative	adagiō	adagiīs
Accusative	adagium	adagia
Ablative	adagiō	adagiīs
Vocative	adagium	adagia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Synonyms

• (proverb, adage): adagiō

Related terms

• (possibly) prōdigium

Descendants

• English: adage
• French: adage
• Italian: adagio
• Portuguese: adágio
• Spanish: adagio

References

• “ădăgĭum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ădăgĭo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ădăgĭum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 29/3.
• adagium in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “adagium” on page 35/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)