inflammatio

Forms

īnflammātiō f (genitive īnflammātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnflammō (“to set on fire”) + -tiō.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero, who uses it twice,^[3] for the setting on fire of buildings, listed beside destruction and devastation.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also uses it figuratively for the kindling of the mind: no one can be a good poet without inflammatio animorum.^[2] From Celsus on it is common in medicine, mostly in the plural, for inflammation of the liver, the eyes or other parts;^[3][2][4] later writers such as Florus use it again for a conflagration.^[4]

Medieval Latin used it for kindling or burning, for heating, for a flame, for inflammation in medicine and for stirring someone up.^[5] Stelten gives the Church Latin sense fire.^[6] English borrowed it in the early 15th century as inflammation, in its medical sense, from Old French and directly from Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of setting ablaze and of the kindling of the mind.^[2][8]
• AD 14–37 – Celsus uses it for inflammation in the body.^[2][8]
• c. 120 – Florus uses it for a conflagration.^[4][8]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as inflammation.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A setting on fire, conflagration.^[2][4]
2. (figurative) A kindling (of the mind), excitement.^[2]
3. (medicine) Inflammation.^[2][4]
4. (Medieval Latin) Heating; a flame.^[5]

Related words

• flamma
• English inflammation

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de