impedico

Forms

impedicō (present infinitive impedicāre); first conjugation, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in-¹ + pedica (“fetter, snare”).^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 390 AD) uses it of advocates who, once they have caught someone in their nets, entangle him in a thousand snares.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the Lex Burgundionum it is used of a hobbled horse,^[2] and medieval British writers have it for fettering and, figuratively, for trapping.^[5] It survives in Romance, as Italian impedicare and Portuguese empelgar,^[2] and through Old French empeechier “to hinder, ensnare” it is the source of English impeach.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of entangling someone in snares.^[3][2][4]
• first quarter of the 6th century AD – The Lex Burgundionum uses it of a hobbled horse.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – English empechen “to hinder”, through Anglo-French.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To catch in a snare, entangle.^[3][2]
2. To fetter, hobble (an animal).^[2][1][5]

Related words

• impediō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com