implicatio

Forms

implicātiō f (genitive implicātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled inplicātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin implicō + -tiō.^[2][1][4] implicō (“to entangle, involve”) is made of in- (“in, into”) and plicō (“to fold”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero (81–43 BC):^[2][6] in De inventione it means a weaving in, of commonplaces worked into an argument.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also used it concretely for the network of sinews spread through the body,^[2][3] and for the embarrassed state of a person's finances.^[2][3] The land surveyor Agennius Urbicus has it for a perplexing difficulty.^[2]

Medieval writers used it for entanglement and involvement,^[7] and also for confusion or obscurity.^[7] Ecclesiastical Latin has it for involvement and suggestion.^[8] English borrowed it in the early 15th century as implication, in the sense “action of entangling”.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of interweaving, of the network of sinews, and of entangled finances.^[2][6]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as implication.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A weaving in, interweaving.^[2][3]
2. An intertwined system, network.^[2]
3. An embarrassed or encumbered state (of one's finances).^[2][3]
4. A perplexing difficulty, intricacy.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) Entanglement, involvement; confusion.^[7]

Related words

• English implication

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson