inaedifico

Forms

inaedificō (present infinitive inaedificāre, perfect active inaedificāvī, supine inaedificātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“in, on”) + aedificō (“to build”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists aedificō among the derivatives of aedēs (“temple, (in the plural) house”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *aiþ- (“fireplace”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)idʰ- (“burning”); the noun first meant the fireplace, then the room with a hearth, and then a small temple.^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek αἴθω (aíthō, “to burn”) and Old Irish áed (“fire”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero's speech on the answers of the soothsayers uses it of a shrine built into a house, and also of holy shrines that had been undermined and walled up.^[2][5] The Lex Iulia municipalis forbids anyone to have anything built on public places.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to build something in or on a place.^[2][7] Hirtius uses it of a breastwork, Livy of the temple of Jupiter that was to be built and of buildings private persons had put up on public land, and Columella of two walls built against a slope.^[2][5] Lucretius uses it of clouds piled upon clouds,^[2][7] and Seneca, figuratively, of burdens an uncle might pile on a young man.^[7]

It also meant to build materials into a structure, as in Pliny the Elder's eagle-stone built into the nest of one kind of eagle,^[2][6] and in the jurists to build upon a site.^[2][5] Another sense was to block with walls or wall up: Caesar blocks streets and squares, and Livy has city gates not just closed but walled up.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a shrine built into a house.^[2][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of walling up streets.^[2][8]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of clouds piled on clouds.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of walled-up gates.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a stone built into a nest.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To build or construct (in or on a place), erect.^[2][6]
2. To build (materials) into a structure, incorporate.^[2][7]
3. To build upon (a site).^[2][5]
4. To block with walls, wall up.^[2][7]
5. (figurative) To pile on (burdens).^[7]

Related words

• aedificō
• aedēs
• aedificium

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 m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de