Etymologically
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implecto

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪmˈpɫɛk.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [imˈplɛk.to][1]

Forms

implectō (present infinitive implectere, perfect active implexī, supine implexum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + plectō1 (“to plait, twine”),[2][3][1] also spelled ⟨inp-⟩.[2][4] plectō1 goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-t-e/o- (“to plait, twine”);[5] it is cognate with Ancient Greek πλέκω (plékō, “to braid, twine”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL record it first in Lucretius,[5][3] who has the perfect participle of first-beginnings that are interwoven with one another.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used almost only in the perfect participle implexus, “interlaced, intertwined”.[2][3][4] Lewis and Short describe it as poetic and post-Augustan in prose.[4] Virgil writes of the Eumenides with dark-blue snakes twined in their hair (caeruleos implexae crinibus angues), and Pliny the Elder of serpents intertwined like wickerwork.[4][6]

Figuratively Seneca speaks of a series implexa causarum, an interwoven chain of causes,[2] and Tacitus of a widow implexa luctu continuo, wrapped in unbroken grief.[4][7] The Festus epitome glosses implexum as implicatum, “entangled”,[3] and Tertullian still uses it of flesh woven with sinews and veins.[3]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the participle of interwoven first-beginnings.[3][5][8]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of snakes twined in the Eumenides' hair.[4][8]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca speaks of an interwoven chain of causes.[2][8]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a widow wrapped in grief.[4][8]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of flesh woven with veins.[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To interlace, intertwine, twist into or among (usually in the perfect participle).[2][4]
  2. (figurative) To entangle, involve; to link closely together.[2][4]

Word family

  • implecticus
  • implexio
  • implexus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de