Etymologically
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implico

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪm.plɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈim.pli.ko][1]

Forms

implicō (present infinitive implicāre, perfect active implicāvī, supine implicātum); first conjugation[1] The perfect is implicāvī or implicuī, and the participle implicātus or implicitus;[2][3] Lewis and Short find the forms in -uī, -itum twice in Cicero and often from Augustus' time on.[2][3] It is also spelled inplicō.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- + plicō (“to fold”), matching Ancient Greek ἐμπλέκω (emplékō, “to entwine”).[2][1][4][5] De Vaan takes ⟨plicō⟩ as a back-formation from compound verbs in ⟨-plicō⟩, which go back to Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to plait”), the root of plectō (“to plait”) and Ancient Greek πλέκω (plékō, “to braid”).[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Plautus' Cistellaria the leaf-roller grub wraps itself up in a vine leaf.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

It is to fold or twine something about itself or another thing: Virgil's Apollo binds his flowing hair with gold, Catullus' ivy clasps a tree, and little Iulus twines himself round his father's hand.[2] It is to interlace, as Varro's cloth woven of many flowers, and to entangle, as Sallust's horsemen throwing a battle line into disorder.[2] In the passive it is to be closely bound up with someone, by age (Cicero's orator who lived long enough to meet speakers of many generations) or friendship.[2] It is also to involve a person in hard circumstances.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “entangle, envelop, implicate”.[8] English imply (late 14th century), implicate and employ (both early 15th century) come from it, imply and employ through Old French.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a grub wrapped in a leaf.[2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of interlaced flowers.[2][7]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of entangling a battle line.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of close association.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of entwining hair with gold.[2][7]
  • late 14th century – English imply.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fold, entwine, wrap (around); to embrace.[2][1]
  2. To interlace, intertwine.[2]
  3. To entangle; to hem in.[2][1][8]
  4. (passive) To be closely connected (with).[2][1]
  5. To involve, implicate.[2][1][8]

Word family

  • implicamentum
  • implicātiō
  • implicatura
  • implicito
  • implicātus
  • impliciscor
  • implicitus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson