impeto

Forms

impetō (present infinitive impetere, supine impetītum); third conjugation, no perfect stem^[1] Also spelled inpetō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in-¹ + petō (“to make for, attack”).^[2][3][1] The TLL compares impetus.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Lucan, who has a wounded she-bear angrily attacking the spear lodged in her.^[4] Lewis & Short and Georges cite an earlier passage of Varro's On Agriculture, on bees driving out drones, but the TLL takes that reading for a false conjecture.^[3][5][4]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly poetic and post-Classical.^[3] Statius and Silius Italicus use it of warriors attacking,^[3][4] and Solinus of giants assailing the sky with rocks.^[4] Christian writers used it figuratively of vices or the devil besetting the soul.^[4]

In Late Latin it also meant to accuse: Sidonius accuses someone of gluttony with it,^[3][6] and Cassiodorus and Gregory of Tours use it for bringing a charge.^[7] Medieval writers kept the senses “attack” and “accuse” and added striking, harassing and, in legal texts, shedding blood.^[8]

Timeline

• 39–65 AD – Lucan has a wounded bear attacking a spear.^[4][9]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of a hero attacking a retreating foe.^[3][4][9]
• first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it of giants attacking the sky.^[4][9]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it for accusing someone.^[3][6][9]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it for bringing a charge.^[7][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To attack, assail, rush upon.^[2][3][4]
2. (figurative, Ecclesiastical Latin) To beset (of vices or the devil).^[4]
3. (Late Latin) To accuse, charge.^[3][5][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) To strike; to harass.^[8]

Word family

• impetibilis
• impetīgō
• impetus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de