excolo
Latin
Etymology
From ex- + colō.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈek.sko.loː/, [ˈɛks̠kɔɫ̪oː]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈek.sko.lo/, [ˈɛkskolo]
Verb
excolō (present infinitive excolere, perfect active excoluī, supine excultum); third conjugation
- I tend or cultivate (figurative)
- I improve or perfect
- I honour
Usage notes
Colō and excolō can be confused in usage. Deriving from the IE root Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-, colō probably had an original sense of turning (plowing for cultivation) the soil, and by extension of inhabiting a place; by further extension, it adopted the senses of improving said habitation by tilling/cultivating the land and through the specific nurture of crops. While the figurative senses of nurturing and improving are attributable to colō, they are more properly rendered by excolō, since nurture and improvement are the parts of the (literal) process of land cultivation "out of" (ex-) which springs excolō, which then renders the figurative and universal sense of tending, nurturing, improving, perfecting, and (in the figurative sense only) cultivating. Colō, cultus and cultiō, then, properly render the senses of tilling/cultivation/tending/nurture/improvement strictly in the agricultural sense, while excolō, excultus, and excultiō properly render the senses of nurture/improvement/perfection, and so improvement by means of effort, labor or study/devotion of one's attention to, all in the general, figurative, non-agricultural sense.
Conjugation
Conjugation of excolō (third conjugation) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
indicative | singular | plural | |||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
active | present | excolō | excolis | excolit | excolimus | excolitis | excolunt |
imperfect | excolēbam | excolēbās | excolēbat | excolēbāmus | excolēbātis | excolēbant | |
future | excolam | excolēs | excolet | excolēmus | excolētis | excolent | |
perfect | excoluī | excoluistī | excoluit | excoluimus | excoluistis | excoluērunt, excoluēre | |
pluperfect | excolueram | excoluerās | excoluerat | excoluerāmus | excoluerātis | excoluerant | |
future perfect | excoluerō | excolueris | excoluerit | excoluerimus | excolueritis | excoluerint | |
passive | present | excolor | excoleris, excolere | excolitur | excolimur | excoliminī | excoluntur |
imperfect | excolēbar | excolēbāris, excolēbāre | excolēbātur | excolēbāmur | excolēbāminī | excolēbantur | |
future | excolar | excolēris, excolēre | excolētur | excolēmur | excolēminī | excolentur | |
perfect | excultus + present active indicative of sum | ||||||
pluperfect | excultus + imperfect active indicative of sum | ||||||
future perfect | excultus + future active indicative of sum | ||||||
subjunctive | singular | plural | |||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
active | present | excolam | excolās | excolat | excolāmus | excolātis | excolant |
imperfect | excolerem | excolerēs | excoleret | excolerēmus | excolerētis | excolerent | |
perfect | excoluerim | excoluerīs | excoluerit | excoluerīmus | excoluerītis | excoluerint | |
pluperfect | excoluissem | excoluissēs | excoluisset | excoluissēmus | excoluissētis | excoluissent | |
passive | present | excolar | excolāris, excolāre | excolātur | excolāmur | excolāminī | excolantur |
imperfect | excolerer | excolerēris, excolerēre | excolerētur | excolerēmur | excolerēminī | excolerentur | |
perfect | excultus + present active subjunctive of sum | ||||||
pluperfect | excultus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum | ||||||
imperative | singular | plural | |||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
active | present | — | excole | — | — | excolite | — |
future | — | excolitō | excolitō | — | excolitōte | excoluntō | |
passive | present | — | excolere | — | — | excoliminī | — |
future | — | excolitor | excolitor | — | — | excoluntor | |
non-finite forms | active | passive | |||||
present | perfect | future | present | perfect | future | ||
infinitives | excolere | excoluisse | excultūrum esse | excolī | excultum esse | excultum īrī | |
participles | excolēns | — | excultūrus | — | excultus | excolendus, excolundus | |
verbal nouns | gerund | supine | |||||
genitive | dative | accusative | ablative | accusative | ablative | ||
excolendī | excolendō | excolendum | excolendō | excultum | excultū |
References
- “excolo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “excolo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- excolo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to cultivate the mind: animum, ingenium excolere (not colere)
- to cultivate the mind: animum, ingenium excolere (not colere)