Etymologically
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adapto

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aˈdap.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈdap.to][1]

Forms

adaptō (present infinitive adaptāre, perfect active adaptāvī, supine adaptātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + aptō (“to fit, adjust”).[2][3][1] The simple verb is formed from aptus (“fitted, suited”).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Suetonius, who in his life of Otho writes of a small wig capitī adaptātō et adnexō, “fitted and fastened to the head”.[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is rare, and Lewis and Short find it with a dative only in the passive participle.[5] Suetonius uses it again in the life of Claudius.[5] In Christian Latin it is used of joining things closely together: the Latin translation of Irenaeus has it of pieces carefully fitted into one,[3] and the Vulgate of Exodus 26:5 of loops made so that one possit adaptārī “can be fitted” to the other.[3] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “adapt, adjust, fit”.[7]

English took it over as adapt in the early 15th century, through Old French adapter.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a wig fitted to the head.[5][3][6]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of loops fitted to one another.[3][6]
  • early 15th century – Borrowed into English as adapt, through Old French.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fit or adjust (to something), with a dative.[2][5][3]
  2. To adapt, modify.[2][1][7]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson