Etymologically
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inclino

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈkliː.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈkliː.no][1]

Forms

inclīnō (present infinitive inclīnāre, perfect active inclīnāvī, supine inclīnātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from in- (“in, towards”) and ⟨-clīnō⟩, compare acclīnō (“to lean against”).[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨-clīnō⟩ to Proto-Italic *kl(e)ine/o- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *ḱl-n(e)-i- (“to lean, bend”), from the root *ḱley- (“to lean”), cognate with Ancient Greek κλίνω (klínō, “to cause to lean”) and Old English hlinian (“to lean”).[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.[3] The OLD's earliest examples include Cato, who tells grafters to cut a branch slanting so that the water runs off.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to cause to lean or slope, as Livy's tower tilted when one wheel sank into a deeper rut, of the body to bend, as Ovid's oxen sinking to their knees, and to slant a cut.[2] The ground “inclines itself”, as Lucilius' Rhodes sloping to the Carpathian sea; it is to bend down or droop, as Martial's olive branches, and to lower, as Livy's masts.[2] Of the sun it is to sink from noon, of a fever to abate, as in Celsus, and in Statius to lay a wall flat.[2][1]

In war it is to drive back, and intransitively to give way, and figuratively to turn someone's mind towards something, to change or bring down, and to be inclined or favourable to something.[1][4] Church Latin glosses it “bow, bend, lean, incline”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[3][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of a slanting cut.[2][6]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of sloping land.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a tilting tower and the setting sun.[2][6]
  • c. 1300 – English incline, by way of Old French.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cause to lean, bend, tilt; to make sloping, (reflexive, of ground) to slope down.[2][1][4]
  2. To bow, bend down, (intransitive) to droop, sink, (of the sun) to go down, (of a disease) to abate.[2][1]
  3. To lower; to lay flat.[2]
  4. (military) To drive back, (intransitive) to give way.[1]
  5. (figurative) To turn (the mind) towards; to change, (intransitive) to incline to, favour.[1][4]

Word family

  • inclīnābilis
  • inclīnāmentum
  • inclīnātiō
  • inclinatiuus
  • inclīnātus
  • inclīnis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com