Etymologically
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immolo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪm.mɔ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈim.mo.lo][1]

Forms

immolō (present infinitive immolāre, perfect active immolāvī, supine immolātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled inm-.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb from Latin in- + mola (“sacrificial meal”), “to sprinkle with meal”.[2][4][5] The noun mola (“millstone; salted meal”) belongs to molō (“to grind”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”).[5] Cognate with Umbrian kumaltu (“let him grind”), Hittite malla- (“to grind”) and Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē, “mill”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius,[5] who has “he sacrificed a fine golden victim”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to sprinkle a victim with salted meal, the mola salsa, before the sacrifice: Cato tells of the oxen of Lavinium that ran off into the woods after being sprinkled and before being killed.[2][3] It then means to offer a victim in sacrifice, also without an object, as in Cicero's people who prayed and sacrificed all day, and to offer a libation.[2] Virgil uses it of killing a man like a victim.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “immolate, sacrifice; render”,[6] and Christian writers use it of presenting an offering.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of sacrificing a victim.[2][5][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of sprinkling the oxen of Lavinium.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of offering sacrifice.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of killing a fallen enemy.[2][7]
  • 1540s – Borrowed into English as immolate.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sprinkle a victim with sacrificial meal.[2][3][1]
  2. To sacrifice, offer as a victim; to offer a libation.[2][3][1]
  3. To kill like a victim, slay.[2][1]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To present as an offering.[1][6]

Word family

  • immolātīcius
  • immolātiō
  • immolator

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com