Etymologically
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adimpleo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aˈdɪm.pɫe.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈdim.ple.o][1]

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

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