Etymologically
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incutio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈkʊ.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈkut.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

incutiō (present infinitive incutere, perfect active incussī, supine incussum); third (-iō variant) conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + quatiō (“to shake, strike”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨quatiō⟩ to Proto-Italic *kwat-i-, with a possible root ⟨*ku(o)t-⟩ seen in Old High German scutten (“to shake”); because of its awkward ablaut it may be a non-Indo-European word.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Ennius on;[3] his Annals have someone striking anger into the Romans.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its physical sense is “to strike or dash against”, as Livy's soldiers knocking down enemies with their shields and shoulders; it is also to hurl missiles, as in Tacitus, and to deal blows.[2][5] Lucretius uses it of dust shaken onto the body, and Statius of a helmet shaken threateningly.[2] Its commonest use is “to instil, strike into”, above all of fear and anxiety; in Plautus a cloak brings on pallor, and Horace speaks of ignorance of the laws causing trouble.[2] Cicero uses it only in this figurative sense.[5]

Church Latin glosses it “strike, inflict”.[6]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of anger struck into the Romans.[2][3][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a cloak bringing on pallor.[2][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of dust shaken onto the body.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of knocking down enemies.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To strike, knock or dash against; to hurl missiles; to inflict blows.[2][5][1][6]
  2. To shake onto; to shake threateningly.[2]
  3. To strike into, instil, inspire (fear, anger and the like); to bring on a condition.[2][1]

Word family

  • incussor
  • incussus

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 j k l 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 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de