Etymology
From Proto-Italic *genō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-, this is a connate form of Latin gignō (Cf. honōs and honor). Cognate with Ancient Greek γείνομαι (geínomai, “to beget, to bring into being, (passively) to be born”), Ancient Greek γονή (gonḗ, “offspring, seed, act of generation”), Sanskrit जनति (janati, “to beget, to produce, etc.”), Sanskrit जना (janā, “birth, origin”), and other multivarious formations in many languages.
Verb
genō (present infinitive genere, perfect active genuī, supine genitum); third conjugation
- (Old Latin) to bring forth as a fruit of oneself: to bear, to beget, to engender, to give birth to
- Synonyms: prōcreō, gignō, prōdō, ēnītor, cōnītor, pariō, ēdō, suscipiō, efficiō
- Antonym: necō
- (by said means): to cause, to produce, to yield
~50 BCE,
Marcus Terentius Varro,
Rerum rusticarum liber I 1.31.5.1:
- omne pabulum, primum ocinum farraginem viciam, novissime faenum, secari. ocinum dictum a graeco verbo ὠκέως, quod valet cito, similiter quo<d> ocimum in horto. hoc amplius dictum ocinum, quod citat alvom bubus et ideo iis datur, ut purgentur. id est <ex> fabali segete viride sectum, antequam genat siliquas. <farrago> contra ex segete ubi sata admixta hordeum et vicia et legumina pabuli causa viride aut quo<d> ferro caesa ferrago dicta, aut inde, quod primum in farracia segete seri coepta. eo equi et iumenta cetera verno tempore purgantur ac saginantur.
- All fodder crops should be cut, first clover, mixed fodder, and vetch, and last hay. Ocinum is derived, as is the garden clover (ocimum), from the Greek word ὠκέως, which means 'quickly.' It is called ocinum for the further reason that it moves (citat) the bowels of cattle, and is fed to them on that account, as a purgative. It is cut green from the bean crop before it produces pods. Farrago, on the other hand, is so called from a crop where a mixture of barley, vetch, and legumes has been sowed for green feed, either because it is cut with the steel (ferrago) or for the reason that it was first sowed in a spelt (far) field. It is with this that horses and other animals are purged and fattened in the spring.
- (in the passive voice): to be born, to be begotten, to be engendered, to be produced
84 BCE,
Marcus Tullius Cicero,
De Inventione 2.122.5-10:
- semper ad idem spectare, hoc modo: paterfamilias cum liberorum haberet nihil, uxorem autem haberet, in testamento ita scripsit: si mihi filius genitur unus pluresve, is mihi heres esto. deinde quae assolent. postea: si filius ante moritur, quam in tutelam suam venerit, tum mihi, dicet, heres esto.
- Translation by C. D. Yonge
- It must be proved always to have the same object in view, in this way: The head of a house, at a time when he had no children, but had a wife, inserted this clause in his will: "If I have a son or sons born to me, he or they is or are to be my heir or heirs." Then follow the ordinary provisions. After that comes the following clause: "If my son dies before he comes into the property, which is held in trust for him, then," says the clause, "you shall be my reversionary heir."
55 BCE,
Marcus Tullius Cicero,
De Oratore 2.140.9-141.7:
- ...nisi forte existimatis a M'. Curio causam didicisse L. Crassum et ea re multa attulisse, quam ob rem postumo non nato Curium tamen heredem Coponi esse oporteret: nihil ad copiam argumentorum neque ad causae vim ac naturam nomen Coponi aut Curi pertinuit; in genere erat universo rei negotique, non in tempore ac nominibus, omnis quaestio: cum scriptum ita sit: si mihi filius genitur, isque prius moritur, et cetera, tum mihi ille sit heres, si natus filius non sit, videaturne is, qui filio mortuo institutus heres sit, heres esse...
- Translation by J.S.Watson (1860)
- ...unless perhaps you imagine that Lucius Crassus took his notion of that famous case from Manius Curius personally; and thus brought many arguments to show why, though no posthumous son was born, yet Curius ought to be the heir of Coponius. The name of Coponius, or of Curius, had no influence at all on the array of arguments advanced, or on the force and nature of the question; the whole controversy had regard to all affairs and events of that kind in general, not to particular occasions or names; since the writing was thus: "If a son is born to me, and he die before, etc., then let him be my heir; and if a son was not born, the question was whether he ought to be heir who was appointed heir on the death of the son..."
54 BCE,
Titus Lucretius Carus,
De rerum natura 4.133-144:
- ut nubes facile inter dum concrescere in alto / cernimus et mundi speciem violare serenam / aëra mulcentes motu; nam saepe Gigantum / ora volare videntur et umbram ducere late, / inter dum magni montes avolsaque saxa / montibus ante ire et solem succedere praeter, / inde alios trahere atque inducere belua nimbos. / nec speciem mutare suam liquentia cessant / et cuiusque modi formarum vertere in oras. / Nunc ea quam facili et celeri ratione genantur / perpetuoque fluant ab rebus lapsaque cedant
- Translation by William Ellery Leonard
- As we behold the clouds grow thick on high / And smirch the serene vision of the world, / Stroking the air with motions. For oft are seen / The giants' faces flying far along / And trailing a spread of shadow; and at times / The mighty mountains and mountain-sundered rocks / Going before and crossing on the sun, / Whereafter a monstrous beast dragging amain / And leading in the other thunderheads. / Now [hear] how easy and how swift be they engendered, / and perpetually flow off from things and gliding, pass away....
533 CE,
Justinian the Great,
Digesta Iustiniani 30.1.17.1.1
:
- Qui filiabus legauit, si mentionem aliqua parte testamenti postumae fecit, uidetur in filiarum legato et de postuma sensisse. Si quis ita legauerit: "si qua filia mihi genitur, ei heres meus centum dato", pluribus natis uidetur singulis tantundem legasse: quod ita accipiendum est, nisi euidens sit contraria sententia testatoris. Si uni ex heredibus fuerit legatum, hoc deberi ei officio iudicis familiae herciscundae manifestum est: sed et si abstinuerit se hereditate, consequi eum hoc legatum posse constat.
533 CE,
Justinian the Great,
Digesta Iustiniani 34.5.13.6.2
:
- Item si pater familias in testamento ita scripserit: "si quis mihi filius aut filia genitur, heres mihi esto..."
- In the same way, if a head of the household in his will should have written: "If a son or daughter is born to me as heir, be it so..."
Usage notes
Genō, though used in Old Latin, had been largely supplanted by the form gignō by the Classical period. Thereafter, usage of genō was largely (though not exclusively) confined to poetic and to legal contexts, especially as pertained to laws of probate and inheritance.
Conjugation
More information Conjugation of genō (third conjugation), indicative ...
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