incarno

Forms

incarnō (present infinitive incarnāre, perfect active incarnāvī, supine incarnātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- + carō² (“flesh”).^[2][3] The TLL compares the Late Latin verbs concarnō, incorporō and inhumānō.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in the Latin Irenaeus, Marius Victorinus and Hilary of Poitiers,^[2] in the theological sense of taking on flesh.^[2][4] The participle incarnātus is by far its most common form.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Christian writers used it above all in the passive, of Christ becoming flesh and man.^[3][4][2] Augustine also used it in a plain sense, of a mother turning food into flesh and milk for her child.^[2][5]

In Medieval Latin it kept the theological sense and was also used in medicine, of making a wound grow new flesh.^[6] English incarnate comes from the Late Latin participle.^[7]

Timeline

• first half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus uses it.^[2][8]
• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers uses it.^[2][8]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of a mother turning bread into milk.^[2][8]
• 435/439 AD – Salvian uses it of Christ.^[3][8]
• late 14th century – English borrows incarnate from the participle.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To make flesh; in the passive, to be made flesh, become incarnate.^[3][4][9]
2. (Late Latin) To turn into flesh.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin, medicine) To make fleshy; to cause flesh to grow.^[6]

Word family

• incarnātiō

Related words

• English incarnate

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson