Etymologically
Log in

incalesco

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word incalesco

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
57/46–12 BC, Propertius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ḱlh₁-eh₁-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin calesco
Latin incalesco

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋ.kaˈɫeːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋ.kaˈlɛs.ko][1]

Forms

incalēscō (present infinitive incalēscere, perfect active incaluī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + calēscō (“to grow warm”).[2][1][3] De Vaan lists calēscō under caleō (“to be warm”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *kalē- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱlh₁-eh₁- (“to be hot”), comparing Welsh clyd and Lithuanian šil̃tas (“warm”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Propertius, once,[3] where a toga grows warm with tears.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to become warm or hot: Livy writes of the sun growing warm, Columella of the season.[6] Of people and passions it is to become excited: Ovid has a prophetess grown hot with the god.[2] It is also to become heated with wine.[2] The TLL counts thirteen instances in Ovid and finds it in prose from Livy on.[3] Lewis & Short call it mostly poetic and absent from Cicero.[6] Church Latin glosses it to grow warm.[7]

Timeline

  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of a toga warmed by tears.[2][3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of prophetic frenzy.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the sun growing warm.[6][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of the season growing warm.[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To grow warm or hot, glow.[2][6][1][7]
  2. Of people or passions, to become excited or roused; to become heated with wine.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Incalesco.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/incalesco. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·