inalto

Forms

inaltō (present infinitive inaltāre, perfect active inaltāvī, supine inaltātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in-¹ + altō (“to raise”), from altus (“high”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Vulgate's Ecclesiasticus, in the Amiatinus manuscript, where the other manuscripts have exaltābit: wisdom “will raise him up”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it post-classical.^[3] Paulinus of Nola uses it figuratively of God, who brings down the proud and raises the humble,^[2][4][5] and the Vitae patrum Iurensium of raising the bed of a stream.^[2]

Medieval writers used it of raising the walls of a church, of exalting a person, of lifting up voices, and of a fire that had grown stronger.^[6]

Timeline

• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate's Ecclesiasticus has it in the Amiatinus manuscript.^[2][7]
• early 5th century – Paulinus of Nola: humiles inaltat, “he raises the humble”.^[2][4]
• 2nd quarter of the 9th century – Walahfrid Strabo uses it of God exalting a friend.^[6][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To raise on high, elevate; to heap up.^[2][8]
2. (figurative) To exalt.^[3][4][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) To increase, strengthen.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson