imperito

Forms

imperitō (present infinitive imperitāre, perfect active imperitāvī, supine imperitātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled inp-.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is the frequentative of imperō (“to command”), formed with -itō.^[2][1][4] De Vaan takes ⟨imperō⟩ from in- and parō (“to prepare, provide”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *parāje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *prh₃-o- (“providing”), cognate with Sanskrit पृणाति (pṛṇā́ti, “to give, grant”) and Ancient Greek ἔπορον (époron, “provided, gave”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's list of derivatives dates it from Plautus,^[5] whose captive says “what I used to command by right, I now ask you as a request”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means “to keep giving orders” and “to be in command, rule”, with an accusative, a dative or alone;^[2][3] Lucretius has those who ruled great nations.^[2][3] Lewis and Short note that it is rare until after Augustus and is not found in Cicero or Caesar.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “command, have power over, rule”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of giving orders.^[2][7]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of rulers of nations.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go on giving orders, command.^[2][1][6]
2. To be in command, rule, govern.^[2][3][1][6]

Related words

• imperō
• parō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b 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 c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de