cingere

Cingere is a Latin verb meaning to gird, encircle, or surround with a belt, band, or other encasement. It also covers the sense of arming or clothing with material, and in figurative use it can mean to gird oneself for a task or challenge, or to surround and constrain something such as a city or boundary. In classical texts it appears in contexts of warfare, dress, ritual, and ceremony.

Principal parts of the verb are cingo, cingere, cinxi, cinctus. In the present system the active forms are cingo, cingis, cingit, cingimus, cingitis, cingunt; imperfect forms include cingebam, cingebas, cingebat, cingebamus, cingebatis, cingebant; future forms include cingam, cinges, cinget, cingemus, cingetis, cingent. The perfect uses cinxi, cinxisti, cinxit, cinximus, cinxistis, cinxerunt. The supine is cinctum and the past participle (perfect passive) is cinctus, with the corresponding passive forms such as cingor, cingers, cingitur, cingimur, cingimini, cinguntur.

Usage notes: cingere typically governs a direct object referring to what is girded or encircled, and it often appears with military or ceremonial symbolism, such as girding with armor or encircling a boundary. The phrase girding one’s loins is a common English rendering of its figurative sense. The related adjective cinctus and the noun cingulum (belt) derive from the same stem, while the verb form itself appears in a wide range of classical authors, from military to legal and literary prose.

Etymology: cingere derives from Latin roots for encircling and is cognate with other Italic forms expressing the idea of surrounding or fastening.