urgeo

Latin

Alternative forms

• urgueō

Etymology

Disputed.

• According to De Vaan, perhaps from Proto-Italic *worɣeō, from Proto-Indo-European *w(o)rǵʰ-éye-ti, from *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”) (compare German würgen (“to strangle”), Lithuanian ver̃žti (“to string, tighten, constrict”), Russian отверга́ть (otvergátʹ, “to reject”), Polish otwierać (“to open”), English worry, wring.
• The linguist Lucien van Beek argues that the proposed Germanic and Balto-Slavic cognates all can refer to the tying of ropes, a semantic sense that is absent from the Latin term. Thus, van Beek doubts a connection with *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”). Instead, van Beek compares the term to Ancient Greek εἴργω (eírgō) and suggests that the term may derive from the zero-grade of the root *h₁wreǵ-.
• According to Rix et al. (DIV), from a zero-grade present *uṛg-éye-ti, itself from the root Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“track, hunt, follow”) and cognate with English wreck, wreak. However, De Vaan argues that such a development requires a "far-fetched" semantic shift. The linguist Nicholas Zair suggests that a causative formed the same root, with the meaning of "to cause to follow a trail," may have more reasonably evolved to mean "to drive, push." Regardless, Zair doubts this etymology, as causatives or iteratives in Proto-Indo-European typically required the o-grade, instead of the zero-grade predicted by Rix. Zair, however, concedes that an o-grade causative *wrog-éye-ti may have produced urgeō via metathesis, a development perhaps also seen in sorbeō, itself from Proto-Indo-European *srobʰéyeti.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈʊr.ɡe.oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈur.d͡ʒe.o]

Verb

urgeō (present infinitive urgēre, perfect active ursī); second conjugation, no supine stem

1. to press, push, force, drive, urge (forward); to stimulate

   Synonyms: stimulō, īnstīgō, īnstinguō, exciō, irrītō, sollicitō, concieō, excitō, concitō, impellō, īnflammō, cieō, incendō, moveō, mōlior, adhortor, ērigō

   Antonyms: domō, lēniō, sōpiō, sēdō, dēlēniō, restinguō, plācō, coërceō, mītigō, commītigō, ēlevō, levō, allevō, alleviō

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.858:

     Mārsque citōs iūnctīs curribus urget equōs

     and Mars, with chariots harnessed, drives swift horses
     (Translations of Ovid's Fasti, by H.T. Riley, James G. Frazer, and Anne and Peter Wiseman, all give Mars one harnessed or yoked chariot in the singular; however, ‘‘iunctis curribus’’ is plural. The plural seems appropriate if the poet’s meaning is understood to be that of Mars menacing with an army of charioteers. Ovid’s verse is an imaginative segue as he closes his book on February and introduces the month of March, named in honor of the war god.)

2. to weigh down, burden, oppress

   Synonyms: opprimō, sepeliō, supprimō, premō

3. to crowd, hem in, confine

   Synonyms: inclūdō, claudō, coërceō, arceō, minuō

Conjugation

   Conjugation of urgeō (second conjugation, no supine stem)

indicative		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	urgeō		urgēs		urget		urgēmus		urgētis		urgent
	imperfect	urgēbam		urgēbās		urgēbat		urgēbāmus		urgēbātis		urgēbant
	future	urgēbō		urgēbis		urgēbit		urgēbimus		urgēbitis		urgēbunt
	perfect	ursī		ursistī		ursit		ursimus		ursistis		ursērunt, ursēre
	pluperfect	urseram		urserās		urserat		urserāmus		urserātis		urserant
	future perfect	urserō		urseris		urserit		urserimus		urseritis		urserint
passive	present	urgeor		urgēris, urgēre		urgētur		urgēmur		urgēminī		urgentur
	imperfect	urgēbar		urgēbāris, urgēbāre		urgēbātur		urgēbāmur		urgēbāminī		urgēbantur
	future	urgēbor		urgēberis, urgēbere		urgēbitur		urgēbimur		urgēbiminī		urgēbuntur
subjunctive		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	urgeam		urgeās		urgeat		urgeāmus		urgeātis		urgeant
	imperfect	urgērem		urgērēs		urgēret		urgērēmus		urgērētis		urgērent
	perfect	urserim		urserīs		urserit		urserīmus		urserītis		urserint
	pluperfect	ursissem		ursissēs		ursisset		ursissēmus		ursissētis		ursissent
passive	present	urgear		urgeāris, urgeāre		urgeātur		urgeāmur		urgeāminī		urgeantur
	imperfect	urgērer		urgērēris, urgērēre		urgērētur		urgērēmur		urgērēminī		urgērentur
imperative		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	—		urgē		—		—		urgēte		—
	future	—		urgētō		urgētō		—		urgētōte		urgentō
passive	present	—		urgēre		—		—		urgēminī		—
	future	—		urgētor		urgētor		—		—		urgentor
non-finite forms		infinitive						participle
		active			passive			active			passive
present		urgēre			urgērī			urgēns			—
future		—			—			—			urgendus
perfect		ursisse			—			—			—
verbal nouns		gerund								supine
		genitive		dative		accusative		ablative		accusative		ablative
		urgendī		urgendō		urgendum		urgendō		—		—

Derived terms

• adurgeō
• exurgeō
• inurgeō
• perurgeō
• suburgeō
• urgēns

Descendants

• Catalan: urgir
• English: urge
• French: urger (through urgent)
• Galician: urxir
• German: urgieren
• Italian: urgere
• Portuguese: urgir
• Spanish: urgir

References

• “urgeo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “urgeo”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be hard pressed by misfortune: malis urgeri
    
  • to persist in an argument, press a point: argumentum premere (not urgere)
    
  • to be pressed on all sides: undique premi, urgeri (B. G. 2. 26)
    
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “urge”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 644
• Rix, Helmut, editor (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben [Lexicon of Indo-European Verbs] (in German), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, →ISBN, page 697
• Nicholas Zair (2017), “The origins of -urC- for expected -orC- in Latin”, in Glotta‎^[2], volume 93, →ISSN, pages 10-11
• Lucien van Beek (November 2024), “Latin follis and vellō as evidence for a sound change *-lǵh- > *lɣ > ll with an excursus on Greek λάχνη, ἀμφιλαχαίνω and cognates”, in Glotta‎^[3], volume 100, number 2, →DOI, →ISSN, page 224