entry
relegate
/ˈrɛləɡeɪt/send away or assign to a lower status
From Latin re- (back) + Latin legare (to send).
from Latin relegatus , past participle of relegare "remove, dismiss, banish, send away, schedule, put aside,"
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Latin relegatus , past participle of relegare "remove, dismiss, banish, send away, schedule, put aside,"
+1 more sourceIn ancient Rome, relegation was not merely a stern version of “please leave.” A magistrate with imperium could order a person to move a specified distance from Rome for a specified period, sometimes sending troublesome foreigners far from the city’s marble center. In 161 BCE, Greek philosophers were expelled from Rome, and a few years later the Epicureans Philiscus and Alcaeus suffered a similar fate. The Latin verb joined re-, “away” or “back,” to lēgāre, “to send or commission”—the same word-family that gave English delegate and legate. Over centuries, physical exile softened into social exile: a person could be relegated to the mail room, while an idea could be relegated to a footnote. Remember the Roman map: to relegate something is to draw a boundary around it and send it beyond the important part of town.
The Story
In ancient Rome, relegation was not merely a stern version of “please leave.” A magistrate with imperium could order a person to move a specified distance from Rome for a specified period, sometimes sending troublesome foreigners far from the city’s marble center. In 161 BCE, Greek philosophers were expelled from Rome, and a few years later the Epicureans Philiscus and Alcaeus suffered a similar fate. The Latin verb joined re-, “away” or “back,” to lēgāre, “to send or commission”—the same word-family that gave English delegate and legate. Over centuries, physical exile softened into social exile: a person could be relegated to the mail room, while an idea could be relegated to a footnote. Remember the Roman map: to relegate something is to draw a boundary around it and send it beyond the important part of town.
Modern Usage
to put someone or something in an out-of-the-way place or lower status
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary: “To put out in the boondocks. To assign to a lower status.”
Kin & Kindred
From 're-'·back, away, or again
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'legare'·to send, dispatch, commission, or entrust
Derived Terms
English words from this root