approprio

Forms

appropriō (present infinitive appropriāre, perfect active appropriāvī, supine appropriātum); first conjugation^[1] Also spelled adpropriō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + proprius (“one's own”), a verb meaning “to make one's own”.^[4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is the medical writer Caelius Aurelianus, who uses it of taking food so as to bear it and corporī adpropriandum, “make it part of the body”.^[4][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short know it only from this author.^[2] Medieval Latin made it a legal word: to give something into someone's full ownership, to assign it, to claim it, or to hold it as one's own.^[3][9] Philosophers used it for attributing a quality to someone as his own,^[3] and Thomas Aquinas both for taking something as one's property and for ascribing to one thing, as its own, what is common to several: appropriāre nihil est aliud quam commūne trahere ad proprium, “to appropriate is nothing other than to draw what is common to what is proper”.^[10] In 14th-century music theory it meant to give a note a stem.^[11]

English appropriate comes from its past participle, from the early 15th century,^[6] and French approprier and Italian appropriare were borrowed from it.^[1]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of making food part of the body.^[4][12]
• 14th century – Music theorists use it of giving a note a stem.^[11]
• early 15th century – English appropriate is formed from its participle.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make one's own; to assimilate (food to the body).^[2][7][8]
2. (Medieval Latin, law) To give into ownership; to assign; to take as one's own, appropriate.^[3][9][13]
3. (Medieval Latin) To attribute, ascribe as proper to someone.^[3][10]
4. (Medieval Latin, music) To give (a note) a stem.^[11]

Word family

• appropriātiō

Related words

• English appropriate

Usage notes

It is kept apart from appropiō “to draw near”, made from ad and prope;^[14] in Bede's treatise on spelling the manuscripts read either verb.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
11. ^ a b c Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
14. ^ Jeanneau, Gérard; Woitrain, Jean-Paul; Hassid, Jean-Claude (2017), Dictionnaire latin-français, online ed., prima-elementa.fr