exiguus

Latin

Etymology

From exig(ō) (“to demand”) +‎ -uus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ekˈsi.ɡu.us/, [ɛkˈs̠ɪɡuʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ekˈsi.ɡu.us/, [eɡˈziːɡuːs]

Adjective

exiguus (feminine exigua, neuter exiguum); first/second-declension adjective

1. strict, exact
2. paltry, inadequate, small, scanty, slight, little

   Synonyms: parvus, brevis

   Antonym: adaequātus

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.211–212:

     “Fēmina, quae nostrīs errāns in fīnibus urbem
     exiguam pretiō posuit [...].”

     “A woman, astray, who planted her little town along our shores for a price [...].”
     (A resentful King Iarbas mocks Queen Dido who purchased the land to found Carthage instead of taking it by force.)

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	exiguus	exigua	exiguum		exiguī	exiguae	exigua
genitive	exiguī	exiguae	exiguī		exiguōrum	exiguārum	exiguōrum
dative	exiguō	exiguae	exiguō		exiguīs
accusative	exiguum	exiguam	exiguum		exiguōs	exiguās	exigua
ablative	exiguō	exiguā	exiguō		exiguīs
vocative	exigue	exigua	exiguum		exiguī	exiguae	exigua

Derived terms

• exiguē
• exiguō
• exiguum

Descendants

• → Catalan: exigu
• → Proto-Brythonic: *eisɨɣu
  • Middle Welsh: eisseu
    • Welsh: eisiau
• → English: exiguous
• → French: exigu
• → Italian: esiguo
• → Spanish: exiguo
• → Portuguese: exíguo, esguio

Noun

exiguus m (genitive exiguī); second declension

1. a poor man

   Synonyms: inops, pauper, egens

   Antonyms: opulentus, opulens, locuplēs, dives, dis, ditis

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	exiguus	exiguī
genitive	exiguī	exiguōrum
dative	exiguō	exiguīs
accusative	exiguum	exiguōs
ablative	exiguō	exiguīs
vocative	exigue	exiguī

Related terms

• exigō

See also

• exīlis

References

• “exiguus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “exiguus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• exiguus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• exiguus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • for a short time: brevis or exigui temporis
    
  • to start from small beginnings: ab exiguis initiis proficisci
    
  • little money: pecunia exigua or tenuis
    
  • a small force: exiguae copiae (Fam. 3. 3. 2)
    
  • (ambiguous) for a short time: ad exiguum tempus
    
  • (ambiguous) to incur debts on a large scale: grande, magnum (opp. exiguum) aes alienum conflare