adimpleo

Forms

adimpleō (present infinitive adimplēre, perfect active adimplēvī, supine adimplētum); second conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + impleō (“to fill”).^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Columella, in a recipe for preserving pieces of cheese in a pitched jar: the jar is filled up with must, ita ut superveniat, “so that it covers them”.^[2][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it once in Columella and then often in Church writers;^[3] two passages of Livy and Pliny the Elder where some editors read it are doubtful.^[6] The jurists Marcellus and Paulus use it of carrying out an obligation, a promise or a sale.^[2][7]

Christian Latin made it the usual word for fulfilling: Tertullian uses it of carrying out the law, and Lactantius has adimplētus dīvīnō spīritū, “filled with the divine spirit”.^[8][9] In the Vulgate the belly of the wicked is filled with hidden things,^[9] and Stelten glosses it “fill, fulfil”.^[10] Medieval writers kept both senses, fill and fulfil, and used it also of making up a number, paying a sum, and celebrating a Mass.^[11][12] Italian adempiere continues it, and Italian also has the reshaped form adempire.^[1][3]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of filling a jar.^[2][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of fulfilling the law.^[8][5]
• first half of the 3rd century AD – The jurist Paulus uses it of carrying out a sale.^[2][5]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius speaks of someone filled with the divine spirit.^[9][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of being filled.^[9][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fill up, fill full (with).^[2][6][4]
2. To fulfil, carry out (an obligation, a promise, a command).^[2][9][10]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To fill (with joy, the spirit); to bring (the Scriptures) to fulfilment.^[9][10]
4. (Medieval Latin) To make up, complete (a number); to pay in full; to celebrate (a Mass).^[11][12]

Word family

• adimplētiō
• adimpletor

Related words

• impleō
• superimpleō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
9. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE