mangō
Meaning
- dealer, monger in slaves or wares (to which he tries to give an appearance of greater value by adorning them)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | mangō | mangōnēs |
| genitive | mangōnis | mangōnum |
| dative | mangōnī | mangōnibus |
| accusative | mangōnem | mangōnēs |
| ablative | mangōne | mangōnibus |
| vocative | mangō | mangōnēs |
mangones quicquid est quod displiceat, aliquo lenocinio abscondunt, etc., Sen. Ep. 80, 9: milia pro puero centum me mango poposcit, Mart. 1, 58, 1: non puer avari sectus arte mangonis, Virilitatis damna maeret ereptae, id. 9, 7, 4; Plin. 24, 6, 22, § 36: mangones, qui colorem fuco mentiuntur, Quint. 2, 15, 25: non a mangone petitus quisquam erit, Juv. 11, 147.—Also, a furbisher, polisher, etc.: gemmarum, Plin. 37, 13, 76, § 200; 12, 20, 43, § 98; 23, 1, 22, § 40; cf. Sillig. ad Plin. 34, 8, 19, § 79.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
Uncertain; but perhaps an agent noun related to Ancient Greek μαγγανεύω (manganeúō, “enchant, use charms”) and secondarily “trick out, dress artificially”, from the noun μάγγανον (mánganon, “philtre, charm, means for bewitching others”). Buck suggests that Latin mangō is a loanword based (ultimately or otherwise) on the Greek noun. Alternatively, derived from manus (“hand”) via an unattested verb such as *manicō or *manigō (“handle, manage; trade, deal?”) (both requiring an unusual syncope of the verb suffix, the former also requiring an unusual voicing of /k/) + -ō (agent noun suffix). This would make it related to manceps (“purchaser; contractor”) and mancipium (“property, slave”), whence perhaps the sense of “slave-trader”. The semantic trajectory would be similar to that of German handeln (“to handle; to trade, deal”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *handuz (“hand”).
- Proto-West Germanic*mangārī
In English words that came into English from mangō
- mongermangō
- mangonizemangōnizō