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incorporo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word incorporo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
first half of the 3rd century AD, Solinus
Ultimate origin
Latin corporō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin corporo
Latin incorporo
From the same root
Latin corporatio ← corporo
Latin corporatus ← corporo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈkɔr.pɔ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈkɔr.po.ro][1]

Forms

incorporō (present infinitive incorporāre, perfect active incorporāvī, supine incorporātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in-1 (“in, into”) + corporō (“to make into a body”).[1][2] The TLL also explains it from ⟨in⟩ and corpus (“body”), and compares incarnō.[2] Etymonline likewise describes it as the prefix with a verb made from ⟨corpus⟩.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Solinus is the first to use it, of figures of various animals that are marked into the body.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

From the 4th century it meant “to embody”: Chalcidius, translating Plato's Timaeus, uses it of the soul when it has been put into a body, and Marius Victorinus and Leo the Great of spirits clothed in bodies.[2][5][6] Christian writers used it for the incarnation of Christ, like incarnāre: so Hilary, and Prudentius, whose scholiast glosses it incarnātum.[2][6][4] Ammianus has it of ropes fixed into bars,[5][6] a fragment on the law of the treasury of goods taken into the public funds,[4][5] and Augustine of being incorporated into the church, the body of Christ.[4][5]

Medieval Latin kept these senses and added others:[7] to make someone a member of a community, and in church and canon law to annex a church, a benefice or property to an institution by legal act;[7][8][9] to take into one's body, to eat or absorb; to mix and blend.[7][8] English incorporate, from its past participle, first meant “to put into the body or substance of something” in the late 14th century, and “to form into a legal corporation” from the mid-15th.[3]

Timeline

  • first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it of animal figures marked on the body.[4][5][10]
  • c. 300 AD – Chalcidius uses it of the soul put into a body.[2][5][10]
  • c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary uses it of the incarnation of Christ.[2][6][10]
  • 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius calls Christ incarnate from heaven.[2][4][10]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of incorporation into the church.[4][10]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of ropes fixed into bars.[5][10]
  • 1268 – A Polish charter uses it of a tithe assigned to a church.[9]
  • late 14th century – English incorporate is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To mark or fix in or upon a body.[4][5]
  2. To embody, furnish with a body;[4][5][2][1] (passive) to become embodied.[4][5][2][1]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin, passive) To become incarnate (of Christ).[2][6][11]
  4. To fit into, join to;[5][6][4] (law) to take into the treasury.[5][6][4]
  5. To incorporate into a body, especially into the church.[4][1]
  6. (Medieval Latin) To make a member of a community; to annex (a church, benefice or property) to an institution.[7][8][9]
  7. (Medieval Latin) To take into one's body, eat; to absorb; to mix, blend.[7][8]

Word family

  • incorporabilis
  • incorporātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b c d Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  9. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  10. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Incorporo.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/incorporo. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·