Etymologically
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infodio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩːˈfɔ.di.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱˈfɔː.di.o][1]

Forms

īnfodiō (present infinitive īnfodere, perfect active īnfōdī, supine īnfossum); third (-iō variant) conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“in, into”) + fodiō (“to dig”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces fodiō to Proto-Italic *foþ-i- and Proto-Indo-European *bhodh-i- (“to poke, dig”);[4] the verb is cognate with Hittite padda-i (“to dig”) and Lithuanian bèsti (“to stick, drive in, dig”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest quotation in the OLD is from Cato's book on farming, of cut vine prunings to be buried on the spot: sarmenta … concidito minute et ibidem … infodito.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means to put in the earth, to bury or inter.[2] Caesar uses it of stakes sunk into the ground,[6][5] Varro of religious objects buried after Numa's death,[7] and Virgil of seed and of the bodies of the dead: corpora multa virum terrae infodiunt, “they bury many bodies of men in the earth”.[5][6] The TLL finds it from Cato on, and in poetry from Virgil on.[3] Pliny the Elder uses it of jewels made to sink into the body through pierced ears,[2] and Silius Italicus and Statius of things driven deep into the body.[7][5] It also means to produce a hole by digging or to dig a site, in Columella and Grattius.[2][7] The Vulgate and Augustine use it of burying things and money.[7] French enfouir continues it.[3]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of burying vine prunings.[2][8]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of stakes sunk in the ground.[6][5][8]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of burying the dead.[5][3][8]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of digging a hole.[7][5][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of jewels sunk into the body.[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To put in the earth, bury, inter.[2][6][1]
  2. To cause (a weapon or the like) to sink in.[2][7]
  3. To produce (a hole) by digging; to excavate.[2][7]

Word family

  • infossio

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de