suffrago

Learned borrowing from Latin suffrāgō.

suffrago

1. (zoology) The joint between the tibia and tarsus, such as the hock of a horse's hind leg or the heel of a bird.

• sugar off

• IPA^(key): /sufˈfra.ɡo/
• Rhymes: -aɡo
• Hyphenation: suf‧frà‧go

suffrago

1. first-person singular present indicative of suffragare

This verb, its deponent version suffrāgor (“to vote for, support, favor”), and the related noun suffrāgium (“voting tablet, ballot, vote”) come from the prefix sub- (“under”) combined with an uncertain root.

One proposal derives them from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”), the root of frangō (“to break”).^[1] The semantic development might be along the same lines as in the related noun fragor (“crash, din, uproar”), with the sense "break, shatter, clash" shifting to "make clashing noises, make an uproar (in support of a candidate)" to "lend support, vote for someone".

Another proposal derives it from the same source as the noun suffrāgō (see below) and may have originally meant an ankle bone or knuckle bone.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /sufˈfraː.ɡoː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /sufˈfra.ɡo/,

suffrāgō (present infinitive suffrāgāre, perfect active suffrāgāvī, supine suffrāgātum); first conjugation

1. to support; to vote for

• suffrāgor
• suffrāgium

• Catalan: sufragar
• Galician: sufragar
• Italian: suffragare
• Portuguese: sufragar
• Spanish: sufragar

From sub- +‎ *frāgō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrāg- (“rump, hock, hindquarters”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break, crack, split”). Cognate with Latin braca (“trousers”).

suffrāgō f (genitive suffrāginis); third declension

1. the ham or hough, hock of a quadruped's hind leg

Third-declension noun.

• Catalan: sofraja, sofranya
• → English: suffrago (learned)
• Galician: sofraxe

• “suffrago”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• suffrago in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.