inambulo

Forms

inambulō (present infinitive inambulāre, perfect active inambulāvī); first conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + ambulō (“to walk”).^[2][3] The simple verb ambulō goes back to Proto-Italic *ala- (“to wander”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂elh₂- (“to wander”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Asinaria, in the impersonal form inambulandumst, “one must walk up and down”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it often for walking up and down: a little in a portico, at home before dawn, on a shady river bank.^[5][7] In a letter to Cicero, Asinius Pollio writes of a man who, after lunch, paced about with his hands clasped behind his back.^[5][7] Livy uses it of walking on the city walls.^[5]

The Vulgate keeps it,^[7][8] and medieval writers used it for going about or travelling, and with an object for walking through or across a place.^[9] Following 2 Corinthians, they spoke of God dwelling and walking among his saints.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the impersonal inambulandumst.^[5][10]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of walking up and down in a portico.^[5][10]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of walking on the walls.^[5][10]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it.^[7][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To walk up and down, pace to and fro.^[2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) To go, travel.^[9]
3. (Medieval Latin, transitive) To walk through, traverse.^[9]

Word family

• inambulātiō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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 e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de