Etymologically
Log in

incorporo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 04:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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.