cālīgō1
Meaning
- fog, mist, vapor
- darkness, gloom
- figurativelyfog, darkness (inability to perceive mentally)
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
āēr dēnsus obscūrusnebula nigra, āēr obscūrusChoosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Obscurum · Tenebræ · Caligo · Tenebricosus · Opacus · Umbrosus
1. Obscurum (σκοτερόν) denotes darkness as an obstruction of light, like σκότος in opp. to illustre. Auct. ad Her. iii. 19, 32. Plin. Pan. 69; whereas tenebræ (δνοφεραί) as the absence of light,) like ζόφος, κνέφας,) in opp. to lux. Cic. Ep. ad Q. Fr. i. 2; lastly, caligo (from celare) as the positive opposite to light and brightness, like ἀχλύς. Caligo denotes a greater degree of darkness than tenebræ; tenebræ than obscuritas; obscuritas than opacum and umbrosum. Cic. Acad. iv. 23, 72. Sensus quidem non obscuros facit sed tenebricosos. Plin. Ep. vii. 21. Cubicula obductis velis opaca, nec tamen obscura facio. Tac. H. ii. 32. Senatum et populum nunquam obscurari nomina, etsi aliquando obumbrentur. Hence, figuratively, obscurus denotes only an insignificant person, of whom nobody takes notice; whereas tenebricosus something positively bad, which seeks darkness that it may remain unobserved. 2. Opacus denotes shady, with reference to a pleasant and beneficial coolness, in opp. to apertus and apricus, like εὔσκιος; whereas umbrosus (umbra, ἀμαυρός,) implies a depth of shade approaching to darkness, like σκιόεις. (iii. 168.)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | cālīgō | cālīginēs |
| genitive | cālīginis | cālīginum |
| dative | cālīginī | cālīginibus |
| accusative | cālīginem | cālīginēs |
| ablative | cālīgine | cālīginibus |
| vocative | cālīgō | cālīginēs |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- mentis quasi luminibus officere (vid. sect. XIII. 6) or animo caliginem offundere
- to obscure the mental vision.
suffundere caelum caligine, Lucr. 6, 479; 6, 461; 6, 92: (ignis) piceă crassus caligine, Verg. G. 2, 309; cf. id. A. 9, 36; Liv. 29, 27, 7: densa caligo occaecaverat diem, id. 33, 7, 2; cf. Suet. Ner. 19: fumidam a terră exhalari caliginem, Plin. 2, 42, 42, § 111: caligo aestuosa, Col. 11, 2, 53 (for which, id. 11, 2, 57: nebulosus aestus): pruinae et caligo, id. 3, 2, 4; cf. Pall. Febr. 9, 2.—Also in plur.: inter caligines, Col. 3, 1, 7.—Hence, class. in prose and poetry): mi ob oculos caligo obstitit, Plaut Mil. 2, 4, 51: cum altitudo caliginem oculis obfudisset, i. e. had caused dizziness, Liv. 26, 45, 3: erat in tantā calligine major usus aurium quam oculorum, id. 22, 5, 3 Weissenb.: noctem insequentem eadem calligc obtinuit; sole orto est discussa, id. 29, 27, 7: nox terram caligine texit, Lucr. 6, 853; 5, 649: caeca noctis, id. 4, 457: caecae umbra, id. 3, 305; cf. Verg. A. 3, 203: quam simul agnorunt inter caliginis umbras, Ov. M. 4, 455: ara obscurā caligine tecta, Cic. Arat. 194.—With tenebrae, Cic. Agr. 2, 17, 44; Curt. 9, 4, 18; Lampr. Comm. 16.—In later writers also with a gen.: caligo tenebrarum, Quint. Decl. 18, 7; cf. Sen. Agam. 472 Heins.; and inversely: tenebris illunae caliginis impeditus, App. M. 9, p. 214.—quod videbam equidem, sed quasi per caliginem: praestrinxerat aciem animi D. Bruti salus, Cic. Phil. 12, 2, 3; so id. Fin. 5, 15, 43: adhuc tamen per caliginem video, Plin. Ep. 5, 8, 8: caecā mentem caligine consitus, * Cat. 64, 207: Augustus... omnibus omnium gentium viris magnitudine suā inducturus caliginem, to throw into the shade, Vell. 2, 37, 1. —vide nunc caliginem temporum illorum, Cic. Planc. 40, 96: superioris anni, id. post Red. in Sen. 3, 5: an qui etesiis, qui per cursum rectum regnum tenere non potuerunt, nunc caecis tenebris et caligine se Alexandriam perventuros arbitrati sunt? id. Agr. 2, 17, 44: illa omnis pecunia latuit in illā caligine ac tenebris, quae totam rem publicam tum occuparant, Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 76, § 177: ecce illa tempestas, caligo bonorum, tenebrae rei publicae, id. Prov. Cons. 18, 43: tantum caliginis, tantum perturbationis offusum, Plin. Ep. 3, 9, 16: quaedam scelerum offusa caligo, Quint. 9, 3, 47.—Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
Formation from an earlier adjective is possible, similarly to several similar nouns in -īgō, examples at rōbīgō, with the verb deriving from the noun, as cālīgō (noun) + -ō. A possible reading in Pacuvius suggests earlier verb semantics as “to make dark”, consistent with this construction. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“dark spot”), suggested to be connected to columba (“dove, pigeon”), Sanskrit कलङ्क (kalaṅka, “dark blemish”), Serbo-Croatian kâl / ка̑л ("mud, dirt"). Various further Indo-European cognates have been suggested, such as Ancient Greek κελαινός (kelainós, “dark, black”), Ancient Greek κηλίς (kēlís, “spot, stain”) and the rare adjective Latin cā̆lidus (“having a white spot on the forehead”).
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