incesso
Pronunciation
Forms
incessō (present infinitive incessere, perfect active incessīvī or incessī, supine incessum); third conjugation[1] The perfect is usually incessīvī, less often incessī.[2][3]
Etymology
It is from Latin incēdō (“to advance, march”), a back-formation from its perfect ⟨incessī⟩.[2][1][4] De Vaan lists incēdō under cēdō “to go, give way”.[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
Lewis & Short think it perhaps not found before the Augustan age.[3] Virgil has a city's walls under attack and fire flying onto the roofs.[2]
Semantic evolution
It is to attack or assail, especially with missiles: Livy has a part of the body attacked with javelins and stones.[2][3] Figuratively it is to assail with criticism or taunts: Livy has Lucius Furius Purpureo attacking his enemy Gnaeus Manlius.[2] Statius uses it of reproaching delays.[2] Wiktionary also gives to advance, march along.[1]
Timeline
- 70–19 BC – Virgil of walls attacked.[2][6]
- 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of missiles and of verbal attacks.[2][3][6]
- c. 45–96 AD – Statius of reproaching delays.[2][6]
Meanings
Verb
- To attack, assail, fall upon, especially with missiles.[2][3][1]
- To assail with criticism, reproach, abuse.[2][1]
- To advance, march along.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de