Etymograph

English

abigeus

Abigeus comes from Latin abigeus ‘a cattle stealer’, from agō ‘do, act, make’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- ‘to drive’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-1‘to drive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éǵeti1‘to be driving’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*agō1‘to drive’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō2‘do, act, make’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEabigō3‘drive away cattle’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEabigeus4‘a cattle stealer’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1730abigeus4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin ago
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin abigo
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin abigeus
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English abigeus
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1730, Institutions of the Criminal Law of Scot: “In the Civil Law, he was accounted an Abigeus…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-Wiktionary, Latin ago‘to drive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éǵetiWiktionary, Latin ago‘to be driving’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*agōWiktionary, Latin ago‘to drive’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagōWiktionary, Latin abigo‘do, act, make’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEabigōWiktionary, Latin abigeus‘drive away cattle’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEabigeusWiktionary, English abigeus‘a cattle stealer’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1730abigeusWiktionary, English abigeus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1730, Institutions of the Criminal Law of Scot: “In the Civil Law, he was accounted an Abigeus…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- ‘to drive’

register, suggest, essay, acre, gesture, congestion, digest, agrarian, progesterone, gestation, ingestion, belligerent, agitate, ingest, axiomatic, samaj, agger, gestion, gerund, 126 more

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti ‘to be driving’

strategy, agony, antagonist, reactionary, axiom, antagonism, agonist, antagonize, glucagon, stratagem, agonize, 100 more

through Proto-Italic *agō ‘to drive’

reaction, actively, transaction, radioactive, inactive, retroactive, hyperactivity, reagent, unambiguous, ambiguously, 78 more

through Latin agō ‘do, act, make’

act, action, active, activity, actual, agency, actor, agent, examination, examine, agenda, activate, squat, enact, agile, agility, assay, agitation, ambiguous, ambiguity, radium, actuator, cogent, actuation, inexact, actuate, redact, exigent, 95 more

Today it means

noun A thief who steals livestock in large quantities.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “abigeus”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin ago, Latin abigo, Latin abigeus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- / abigeus

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