excolo

Latin

Etymology

From ex- +‎ colō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈek.sko.loː/, [ˈɛks̠kɔɫ̪oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈek.sko.lo/, [ˈɛkskolo]

Verb

excolō (present infinitive excolere, perfect active excoluī, supine excultum); third conjugation

1. to tend or cultivate (figurative)
2. to improve or perfect
3. to honour

Usage notes

Colō and excolō can be confused in usage. Deriving from the IE root Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-, colō probably had an original sense of turning (plowing for cultivation) the soil, and by extension of inhabiting a place; by further extension, it adopted the senses of improving said habitation by tilling/cultivating the land and through the specific nurture of crops. While the figurative senses of nurturing and improving are attributable to colō, they are more properly rendered by excolō, since nurture and improvement are the parts of the (literal) process of land cultivation "out of" (ex-) which springs excolō, which then renders the figurative and universal sense of tending, nurturing, improving, perfecting, and (in the figurative sense only) cultivating. Colō, cultus and cultiō, then, properly render the senses of tilling/cultivation/tending/nurture/improvement strictly in the agricultural sense, while excolō, excultus, and excultiō properly render the senses of nurture/improvement/perfection, and so improvement by means of effort, labor or study/devotion of one's attention to, all in the general, figurative, non-agricultural sense.

Conjugation

Conjugation of excolō (third conjugation)
indicative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	excolō	excolis	excolit	excolimus	excolitis	excolunt
	imperfect	excolēbam	excolēbās	excolēbat	excolēbāmus	excolēbātis	excolēbant
	future	excolam	excolēs	excolet	excolēmus	excolētis	excolent
	perfect	excoluī	excoluistī	excoluit	excoluimus	excoluistis	excoluērunt, excoluēre
	pluperfect	excolueram	excoluerās	excoluerat	excoluerāmus	excoluerātis	excoluerant
	future perfect	excoluerō	excolueris	excoluerit	excoluerimus	excolueritis	excoluerint
passive	present	excolor	excoleris, excolere	excolitur	excolimur	excoliminī	excoluntur
	imperfect	excolēbar	excolēbāris, excolēbāre	excolēbātur	excolēbāmur	excolēbāminī	excolēbantur
	future	excolar	excolēris, excolēre	excolētur	excolēmur	excolēminī	excolentur
	perfect	excultus + present active indicative of sum
	pluperfect	excultus + imperfect active indicative of sum
	future perfect	excultus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	excolam	excolās	excolat	excolāmus	excolātis	excolant
	imperfect	excolerem	excolerēs	excoleret	excolerēmus	excolerētis	excolerent
	perfect	excoluerim	excoluerīs	excoluerit	excoluerīmus	excoluerītis	excoluerint
	pluperfect	excoluissem	excoluissēs	excoluisset	excoluissēmus	excoluissētis	excoluissent
passive	present	excolar	excolāris, excolāre	excolātur	excolāmur	excolāminī	excolantur
	imperfect	excolerer	excolerēris, excolerēre	excolerētur	excolerēmur	excolerēminī	excolerentur
	perfect	excultus + present active subjunctive of sum
	pluperfect	excultus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	—	excole	—	—	excolite	—
	future	—	excolitō	excolitō	—	excolitōte	excoluntō
passive	present	—	excolere	—	—	excoliminī	—
	future	—	excolitor	excolitor	—	—	excoluntor
non-finite forms		active			passive
		present	perfect	future	present	perfect	future
infinitives		excolere	excoluisse	excultūrum esse	excolī	excultum esse	excultum īrī
participles		excolēns	—	excultūrus	—	excultus	excolendus, excolundus
verbal nouns		gerund				supine
		genitive	dative	accusative	ablative	accusative	ablative
		excolendī	excolendō	excolendum	excolendō	excultum	excultū

References

• “excolo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “excolo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• excolo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to cultivate the mind: animum, ingenium excolere (not colere)