Etymologically
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incitatus

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Forms

incitātus (feminine incitāta, neuter incitātum; comparative incitātior, superlative incitātissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin incitō (“to set in rapid motion, rouse”).[1][2][3] incitō is formed from in- and citō (“to set in motion”), which de Vaan derives from cieō (“to stir”) and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(ḱ)ei(h₂)- (“to start to move”).[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.[3] Cicero speaks of the turbulent movements and violent agitations of the mind.[1]

Semantic evolution

It is fast-moving, rushing: Seneca writes that a comet burns the more, the faster the wind.[1] Of people it is excited or excitable: Asinius Pollio writes to Cicero that he only just held back a legion stirred up to the highest degree.[1] Of emotions and pain it is violent or intense, and of style or action marked by vigour: Cicero says that an orator had nothing grand or vigorous in his diction.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of violent emotions and of a style without vigour.[1][3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a fast wind.[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Fast-moving, rapid, rushing.[1][2]
  2. Of people, excited, roused; excitable, passionate.[1]
  3. Of emotions or pain, violent, intense; of style or action, marked by vehemence.[1]

Usage notes

Lewis & Short also record a noun incitātus, -ūs, rapid motion, as a manuscript reading in Pliny the Elder for incitus.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften