impulsus

Forms

impulsus m (genitive impulsūs); fourth declension^[1] The spelling inpulsus is also found.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin impellō (“to push against, drive”) + -tus, a noun of action;^[2][4] Wiktionary links it with the perfect passive participle of the verb.^[1] The verb is in- and pellō (“to push”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *pelna- and Proto-Indo-European *pl-n(e)-h₂- (“to approach”), with a shift of meaning from bringing something closer to pushing it.^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek πίλναμαι (pílnamai, “to approach”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first examples in the OLD are in Plautus, of a woman who came in at someone's prompting, and of a wrong done under the impulse of wine and youth.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Physically it is a shock, thrust or impact, as of shields in Cicero, and it is most frequent in the ablative.^[2][3] Figuratively it is incitement by a person or prompting by the mind or the emotions.^[2][3] Church Latin has pressure, shock, impulse and excitement,^[6] and in medieval Latin it can mean a claim or pretension.^[7] English took it as impulse in the early 15th century, with the sense of a sudden urge from the 1640s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of prompting and of the impulse of youth.^[2][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the impact of shields.^[2][9]
• early 15th century – Borrowed into English as impulse.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shock, thrust, impact.^[2][3][1]
2. Incitement, prompting, impulse.^[2][3][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A claim, pretension.^[7]

Related words

• impellō
• English impulse

Usage notes

Impulsus is also the perfect passive participle of impellō.^[3][6]

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 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de