Etymologically
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infit

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈĩː.fɪt][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈiɱ.fit][1]

Forms

īnfit (defective: only the third person singular present)[2] Ennius has the second syllable long.[2] Priscian cites infio from Varro,[2][3] and Martianus Capella has infiunt.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + fīō (“to become, happen”).[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of fīō, which he traces to Proto-Italic *fwije/o- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂u-ie/o- (“to become”);[4] cognate with Oscan fiíet (“they come about”) and Old Irish biid (“is”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,[4] in the Aulularia: “then he begins to demand, wailing and howling”.[2]

Semantic evolution

With an infinitive it means “begins”: Plautus has someone beginning to question the speaker and to praise a girl's beauty, and Lucretius has it too.[3] Alone it is “begins to speak”: Ennius has infit “o cives”, Virgil his vocibus infit, and Livy introduces a speech of Tullus with it.[2][3] Prudentius uses it simply for “speaks”.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “begins” with an infinitive.[2][5]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius, “begins to speak”.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, before a speech.[3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, before a speech.[3][5]
  • 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius, “speaks”.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (with infinitive) Begins.[2][3][1]
  2. Begins to speak.[2][3][1]
  3. (Late Latin) Speaks.[3]

References

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