incino

Forms

incinō (present infinitive incinere, perfect active incinuī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] An inscription has the infinitive incanere.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + canō (“to sing”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan traces canō to Proto-Italic *kan-e(je)- and Proto-Indo-European *kh₂n-e- (“to sing”), noting that scholars do not agree on the form of the Indo-European root.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first example in Georges and Conte is Varro's cum signa incinuērunt, “when the signals have sounded”.^[6][7][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare word, not used by Cicero.^[8] Intransitively it is to sound or to play an instrument: Gellius uses it of a piper playing gentle measures.^[6][8] Transitively it is to strike up or sing a tune: Propertius writes of someone who sings variōs … ōre modōs, “varied tunes with his mouth”,^[8][3] Gellius of the measures and trills a piper plays,^[6][3] and Symmachus of playing a song on the pipes.^[3][7] A verse epitaph says of a musician that he used to play and sing skilfully.^[3]

The TLL derives incentīvus and incentor from it.^[3] Etymonline explains English incentive from Late Latin ⟨incentivum⟩, the neuter of incentīvus “setting the tune”, from the past participle stem of incinō.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of signals sounding.^[3][6][10]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of singing tunes.^[3][8][10]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a piper.^[3][8][10]
• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it of playing a song on pipes.^[3][7][10]
• early 15th century – English has incentive, from a Late Latin derivative.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sound, ring out; to play (on a musical instrument).^[2][6][7]
2. (transitive) To play or sing (a tune), to strike up.^[2][8][11]

Word family

• incentīvus

Related words

• canō
• concinō
• English incentive

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company