impalo

Forms

impālō (present infinitive impālāre, perfect active impālāvī, supine impālātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in-¹ + pālus¹ (“stake”) with the verb-forming ending -ō.^[1][2] The TLL derives it from in- and the verb pālō (“to prop with stakes”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Burgundian law code, of an animal driven out of a vineyard or a threshing floor that is impaled.^[3][4][1]

Semantic evolution

It belongs to the Germanic law codes of the early Middle Ages.^[1] The Ripuarian law uses it reflexively of an animal that impales itself on a fence, for which no compensation is owed.^[5] English impale (1520s) came from French empaler or directly from the Medieval Latin verb, first meaning to enclose with stakes.^[2]

Timeline

• 500-525 – The Burgundian law code uses it of an animal impaled on a stake.^[3][4]
• 1520s – English borrows impale, from French or from this verb.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Late Latin) To impale; in the passive or reflexive, to be impaled, to run onto a stake.^[1][3][5]

Related words

• English impale

Usage notes

The word occurs in the Lex Ribuaria with the variant reading palaverit.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften