The corpus record — Latin

tergeo

to rub clean, polish

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Griphus Ternarii numeri 2 · 18.69/10k
Moretum, Appendix Vergiliana 1 · 12.92/10k
Cathemerina 2 · 2.72/10k
Panegyricus de quarto consulatu Honorii Augusti 1 · 2.52/10k
Historiae 1 · 2.46/10k
Paradoxa stoicorum ad M. Brutum 1 · 2.32/10k
Silvae 5 · 2/10k
De Vita Iulii Agricolae 1 · 1.48/10k
Satyricon 4 · 1.31/10k
Asinaria 1 · 1.24/10k
Thebais 7 · 1.12/10k
Epistularum 1 · 1.1/10k

Densest 12 of 43 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. tergeo — de Vaan

tergeo 'to rub clean, polish' [v. II; pf. tersT, ppp. tersum] (P1.+; pr. also tergo, -ere) Derivatives: abstergere 'to wipe clean, wipe off (P1.+), circumtergere 'to wipe round about' (Cato), detergere 'to wipe away, trim' (Andr.+), extergere 'to wipe clean' (P1.+); mantelum 'hand-towel, napkin' (Lucil.+), mantelium (Varro+) 'hand-towel, napkin'. Pit. *ferg-. It cognates: U. mantrahklu, mantraklu, mandraclo … — [de Vaan, s.v. tergeo, p. 628]

2. tergeo — Lewis & Short

tergeo or less freq. tergo, si, sum, 2 or 3 (v. Neue, Formenl. 2, 423 sq.;

I part. perf. tertus, Varr. ap. Non. 179, 7 and 8), v. a. for stergo; akin to stringo; Gr. straggeu/w, to twist, to rub off, wipe off, wipe dry, wipe clean, cleanse.

I Lit. (class.; syn. verro): numquam concessavimus Lavari aut fricari aut tergeri aut ornari, Plaut. Poen. 1, 2, 10: mantelium, ubi manus terguntur, Varr L. L. 6, § 85 Müll.; so, frontem sudario, Quint. 6, 3, 60: nares in adversum, id. 11, 3, 121: fossas, to dry, Cato, R. R. 2, 4; Col. 2, 21, 3: aequatam (mensam) mentae tersere virentes, Ov. M. 8, 663: pars leves clipeos et spicula lucida tergent, rub off, polish, burnish, Verg. A. 7, 626: arma, Liv. 26, 51, 4: leve argentum, vasa aspera, Juv. 14, 62: manuque simul velut lacrimantia tersit Lumina, Ov. M. 13, 132: oculos pedibus, Plin. 11, 48, 108, § 258. — Poet.: aridus unde aures terget sonus ille, grates upon, Lucr. 6, 119: nubila caeli (Aurora), to scatter, Sil. 16, 136: tergere palatum, to tickle the palate, Hor. S. 2, 2, 24. — Absol.: qui tractant ista, qui tergunt, qui ungunt, qui verrunt, * Cic. Par. 5, 2, 37: si QVIS TERGERE ORNARE REFICERR VOLET (sc. aram), Inscr. Orell. 2489.—

II Trop. (very rare): librum, i. e. to improve, amend, Mart. 6, 1, 3: scelus, to expiate, Sen. Herc. Oet. 907.—Hence, tersus, a, um, P. a., wiped off, i. e. clean, neat (not in Cic.).

A Lit.: (mulier) lauta, tersa, ornata, etc., Plaut. Stich. 5, 5, 4; cf id. Pa. 1, 2, 31; cf.: alii sunt circumtonsi et tersi atque unctuli, Varr. ap Non. 179, 8: plantae, Ov. M. 2, 736: tersum diem pro sereno dictum ab antiquis, Fest. p. 363 Müll. —

B Trop., pure, correct, nice, neat, terse: judicium acre tersumque. Quint. 12, 10, 20: tersum ac limatum esse oportet quod libris dedicatur, id. 12, 10, 50: elegiae tersus atque elegans auctor, id. 10, 1, 93; of in comp.: multo est tersior ac purus magis (Horatius), id. 10, 1, 94: opus tersum, molle, jucundum, Plin. Ep. 9, 22, 2; so, praefationes tersae, graciles, dulces, id. ib. 2, 3, 1.—Sup.: vir in judicio litterarum tersissimus, Stat. S. 2 praef.—No adv.

3. tergeó — Walde–Hofmann

tergeó, tergó, erst tersus (terius Varro), -&re „wische ab, rei-. nige* (seit Plaut, ebenso tersus, -@, -um „sauber, rein“; rom. tergére und *tergicare), vgl. tersus, -üs Apul; Komp.: abs- seit Plt., rom., eircum- seit Cato, de- seit Plt,, ex- seit Plt., rom,, per-tergeö seit Hor.; dazu mantzle (-um), manutergium, facitergium (s. mantelum oben 1L 32): samt u. man-trahklu, man-draclo *mant&le" (*mantrüg-kló-: mantele … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. tergeó, p. 1578]

In the wild

tergoque Statius, Thebais 2.583
tergere Livy, Ab urbe condita 4.44.34.8
tergis Curtius Rufus, Historiae Alexandri Magni 7.7.15
tergit Ovid, Epistulae 21.166
tersit Statius, Thebais 8.165
tergis Livy, Ab urbe condita 3bis.40.48.3

6 of 87 attestations shown.

Where it came from

de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. tergeo (scan pp. 628-629; entry #1795). Root candidates: *ferg-, *stelgh-.
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. tergeó (scan p. 1578; entry #2973). Root candidates: *man-.

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.