Etymologically
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incessus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈkɛs.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in̠ʲˈt͡ʃɛs.sus][1]

Forms

incessus m (genitive incessūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from incēdō (“to walk, advance”) with the suffix of action nouns -tus.[2][3] De Vaan lists ⟨incēdō⟩ under cēdō (“to go, yield”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away”) and, following Lubotsky, to Proto-Indo-European *ḱiesdh- (“to drive away”), cognate with Sanskrit सेधति (sedhati, “drives away”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is the comic poet Turpilius: “do you see the Phrygian's walk? how bold he is!”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act or manner of walking, gait, as in Cicero's rule that standing, walking, sitting and looks should all keep decorum;[2][5] Pliny the Elder uses it of the power of walking, among the faculties that fail first.[2][5] In the historians it is the advance of an army, as in Livy's dust raised as if by a great column on the march, and an arrival or approach, or a procession or train (Tacitus).[2] In the land surveyors it is the extension of a line.[2]

Timeline

  • 2nd century BC – Turpilius of a confident gait.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of decorous walking.[5][3]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of an army's advance.[2][3]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of an arrival and a procession.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Walking; gait, bearing; the power of walking.[2][5][1]
  2. The advance of an army; a line of attack.[2]
  3. An arrival, approach; a means of access.[2]
  4. A procession, train.[2]
  5. (geometry) Linear extension.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press