Etymograph

English

expurge

Expurge comes from Latin expurgō ‘purge, cleanse, purify’, and goes back to pūrgō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūrgō‘to clean, cleanse, clear, purge, purify’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpurgō‘purge, cleanse, purify’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400espurgier
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600expurger
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1644expurge

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūrgō‘to clean, cleanse, clear, purge, purify’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpurgō‘purge, cleanse, purify’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400espurgier
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600expurger
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1644expurge

Earliest quotation: 1644, John Milton, London: [s.n.]: “perfected those catalogues and expurging indexes”.

Linked words

through Latin pūrgō ‘to clean, cleanse, clear, purge, purify’

purgatory, purging, 7 more

Today it means

verb To expurgate.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin pūrgō / expurge

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