The Rogare Family

Question

I ran into the word "supererogatory" again yesterday (in an essay by Oscar Levant). I see it once in a great while, and I never remember what it means, so I have to look it up again. Turned out it can be another way of saying "above and beyond the call of duty". It's also used loosely as a synonym for "superfluous".
I got curious whether it might have a common etymon with "interrogative", so I looked it up. Sure enough, they both came ultimately from a Latin word "rogare" ("a" is "a macron"), meaning "to ask", so I wondered about some other words that came to mind:
derogatory
prerogative
arrogant
abrogate
surrogate
All of these are from Latin "rogare". The wide range of meanings illustrates once again the wildly divergent paths etymology has taken in arriving at the present state of our language.
A word that is apparently used mostly in a religious context if "rogation". It's relation to "ask" is fairly
straightforward.
A wild-card search in the online Oxford English Dictionary on the string rogate turned up some others:
adrogate
arrogate
prorogate
subrogate
Obsolete:
corrogate
erogate
irrogate
obrogate
perrogate
superarrogate
Not from rogare :
retrogate
Harrogate

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I ran into the word "supererogatory" again yesterday (in an essay by Oscar Levant). I see it once in a ... some others: adrogate arrogate prorogate subrogate Obsolete: corrogate erogate irrogate obrogate perrogate superarrogate Not from rogare : retrogate Harrogate[/nq]
Excellent post, Bob. As I read it, that Yorkshire town kept popping into my mind and I was formulating a quip - but you beat me to it.

Laura
(emulate St. George for email)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I ran into the word "supererogatory" again yesterday (in an ... obrogate perrogate superarrogate Not from rogare : retrogate Harrogate[/nq]
[nq:1]Excellent post, Bob. As I read it, that Yorkshire town kept popping into my mind and I was formulating a quip - but you beat me to it.[/nq]
Meanwhile,. I was mentally tasting rogan josh.

Ross Howard

Usenet · Answer

Meanwhile,. I was mentally tasting rogan josh.

I hope not. He won the Melbourne Cup a brace of years ago, and hopefully is out to pasture, as I type.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Excellent post, Bob. As I read it, that Yorkshire town ... formulating a quip - but you beat me to it.[/nq]
[nq:1]Meanwhile,. I was mentally tasting rogan josh.[/nq]
Mentally I made an association with hemmorhoids (spelling?) from the past participle in the declension:
Rogo, Rogare, Rexi, ******
Jitze

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I ran into the word "supererogatory" again yesterday (in an essay by Oscar Levant). I see it once in a ... some others: adrogate arrogate prorogate subrogate Obsolete: corrogate erogate irrogate obrogate perrogate superarrogate Not from rogare : retrogate Harrogate[/nq]
I would suspect that in the next few days a large number (maybe I am being too optimistic) of people in the UK will be reaching for their dictionaries, in order to look up 'derogate'. The House of Lords has just ruled on the appeal by nine foreign nationals held without trial in Belmarsh Prison (aka (by the press) 'Britain's Guantanamo Bay'). The appeal concerned, in part, the legality of the "Derogation Order" which was a partial derogation of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Some Commentators may claim that the HofL has arrogated new powers in making this ruling. It is likely that a few of the Law Lords comments will be considered to be supererogative.
Regards
Matthew Newell

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I would suspect that in the next few days a large number (maybe I am being too optimistic) of people ... concerned, in part, the legality of the "Derogation Order" which was a partial derogation of the Human Rights Act 1998.[/nq]
Interesting to see, they seem to be using "derogate" in a sense that's marked "obsolete" in The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary :
(obsolete) v.t. Repeal or abrogate in part (a law etc.); destroy or impair the force, effect, or authority of. LME?L17.
But further digging reveals that while that sense of "derogate" is marked "obsolete", the following sense of "derogation" is not:
3 The partial abrogation or repeal of a law etc. L15.

So your horde of people looking up "derogate" would be well advised to look up "derogation" instead.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I would suspect that in the next few days a ... was a partial derogation of the Human Rights Act 1998.[/nq]
[nq:1]Interesting to see, they seem to be using "derogate" in a sense that's marked "obsolete" in The New Shorter ... law etc. L15. So your horde of people looking up "derogate" would be well advised to look up "derogation" instead.[/nq]
The use of both words in this context comes from the European Convention on Human Rights itself, which was signed in 1950, based on a British draft. Article 15 provides that "In time of war or other emergency threatening the life of the nation any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation", and later refers to "this right of derogation".

Don Aitken
Mail to the addresses given in the headers is no longer being read. To mail me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com".

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]A wild-card search in the online Oxford English Dictionary on the string rogate turned up some others: adrogate arrogate prorogate subrogate Obsolete: corrogate erogate irrogate obrogate perrogate superarrogate Not from rogare : retrogate Harrogate[/nq]
Interesting that "interrogate" didn't show up - or did it?

Jitze

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Jitze Couperus ha scritto:
[nq:2]A wild-card search in the online Oxford English Dictionary on the string rogate turned up some others: adrogate arrogate prorogate subrogate[/nq]
[nq:1]Interesting that "interrogate" didn't show up - or did it?[/nq]
And how about this famous song?
Rogare... oh, oh!...
Cantare... oh, oh, oh, oh!
Nel blu, dipinto di blu
Felice di stare lassù....

Reinhold (Rey) Aman, President
The László Löwenstein Fan Club

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]A wild-card search in the online Oxford English Dictionary on the string rogate turned up some others: adrogate[/nq]
.
[nq:2]superarrogate[/nq]
[nq:1]Interesting that "interrogate" didn't show up - or did it?[/nq]
Yes, it did. Well, anyway, "interrogative" did. In the first two paragraphs of my initial posting, which have been understandably sniipped somewhere along the line, I said

I ran into the word "supererogatory" again yesterday (in an essay by Oscar Levant). I see it once in a great while, and I never remember what it means, so I have to look it up again. Turned out it can be another way of saying "above and beyond the call of duty". It's also used loosely as a synonym for "superfluous".
I got curious whether it might have a common etymon with "interrogative", so I looked it up. Sure enough, they both came ultimately from a Latin word "rogare" ("a" is "a macron"), meaning "to ask", so I wondered about some other words that came to mind:

The Rogare Family

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