Etymologically
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increpo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪŋ.krɛ.poː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈiŋ.kre.po][1]

Forms

increpō (present infinitive increpāre, perfect active increpuī or increpāvī, supine increpitum or increpātum); first conjugation[1] Besides increpuī and increpitum the forms increpāvī and increpātus occur.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- + crepō (“to rattle, crack”).[3][1] De Vaan traces crepō to Proto-Italic *krepa- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱrep- (“to rattle, crackle”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.[4] In the Amphitruo a man trembles: ita mē increpuit Iuppiter, “so did Jupiter thunder at me”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Intransitively it is to make a sharp, loud noise, to rattle, clash or roar, as Cicero's discus that rang out, and figuratively of alarms that suddenly sound.[3] Transitively it is to make something sound, and to fall upon someone noisily.[3] Plautus already has it of loud reproaches, and its most common sense is to rebuke or chide, to protest against faults, and to say something scornfully.[3][2] Virgil and other poets use it of urging on.[1]

Church Latin glosses it “rebuke, reprove, blame, chide, scold, rattle”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of thunder and of reproaches.[4][3][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of scornful words.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a ringing discus and of sudden alarms.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To make a loud noise, rattle, clash, roar, (of alarms) to break out.[3][1][5]
  2. (transitive) To make to sound; to fall upon noisily.[3]
  3. To rebuke, chide, scold.[3][1][5]
  4. To protest against, inveigh against; to say scornfully.[3][1]
  5. (poetic) To urge on, exhort.[1]

Word family

  • increpātiō
  • crepō
  • crepitus
  • concrepō
  • discrepō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de