impertio

Forms

impertiō (present infinitive impertīre, perfect active impertīvī or impertiī, supine impertītum); fourth conjugation^[1] It is also spelled inpertiō, and Livy has impartiō.^[2][3] A deponent impertior occurs, and early Latin has the future impertibis (Novius).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + partiō (“to share, divide”), with the vowel weakened in the compound.^[2][3][1] partiō is from pars (“part”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *parti- (“part”);^[4] Schrijver explains it as a pre-Latin formation from the present stem of pariō (“to bring forth”), first meaning lot or portion.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Ennius' Annals, of a man with whom another gladly shares his table and his talk.^[2] Plautus uses it of sending greetings to a lover and of sharing honours.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to give a share of something, impart, as Cicero says that the breath we draw is given and imparted to us by the gods; to communicate feelings, as grief; and to devote time or effort to something.^[2] With a person as object and an ablative it is to make someone a sharer in something.^[2] Döderlein explains that impertire and tribuō mean giving a portion without regard to what the giver keeps, impertire out of goodwill and tribuere out of justice, whereas participō and commūnicō mean sharing something one keeps a part of.^[5] Church Latin glosses it bestow, impart, share, grant, communicate.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of sharing a table.^[2][7]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sending greetings.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of breath given by the gods.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has the form impartio.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give a share of, impart; to communicate feelings; to devote time or effort.^[2][3][1]
2. To send a greeting; with cum, to share with a person.^[2]
3. To make one a sharer in, present with a share of.^[2][1]

Related words

• partiō
• pars

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 j k l m 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. ^ 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
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ 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