incursio

Forms

incursiō f (genitive incursiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin incurrō (“to run against”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] incurrō is a compound of currō “to run”, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *korse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kr̥s-e/o- (“to run”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Accius, then in Cicero, Caesar, Hirtius and Livy, who has it 23 times.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is an attack or assault, especially in war: Cicero writes of the onset and attack of armed men.^[2][5] It is an incursion, inroad or raid: Caesar has part of a province laid waste by raids, and Livy a people making a hostile raid into Roman territory.^[2][5] It is also a striking against, a collision: Cicero, setting out Epicurean views, writes of images by whose impact we see and think, and of the collision of atoms.^[2][5] Church Latin glosses it attack,^[6] and in Medieval Latin it is a fine imposed at discretion.^[7] English incursion appears in the early 15th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses the word.^[3][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of an armed attack and of colliding atoms.^[2][5][9]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of raids on a province.^[2][9]
• early 15th century – English incursion.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An attack, assault, onset.^[2][5][1][6]
2. An incursion, inroad, raid.^[2][5][1]
3. A striking against, collision.^[2][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A discretionary fine, amercement.^[7]

Related words

• incurrō
• incursātiō
• incursitō
• incursō
• incursus
• English incursion

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de