Etymologically
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informo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ĩːˈfoːr.moː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iɱˈfɔr.mo][1]

Forms

īnfōrmō (present infinitive īnfōrmāre, perfect active īnfōrmāvī, supine īnfōrmātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from in- “in, on” and fōrmō “to form”.[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Varro, of shaping and of sketching in words.[2] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to give shape to, fashion, form, as Virgil's shield and Columella's threshing floor, mostly in poetry.[2][6][7] From Varro it meant to sketch, outline in words, and in Cicero to form an idea of, imagine, and to mould a person or mind by instruction.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to fashion, form, mould, represent, shape, train.[8] Glossaries explain it as īnstruat, doceat “let him instruct, teach”.[3] It survives in Italian informare and French informer, and English inform came in the early 14th century, “to train or instruct”, īnfōrmātiō gave English information.[1][4]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of shaping.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of instruction.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of fashioning a shield.[6][5]
  • early 14th century – English inform is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To shape, fashion, form.[2]
  2. To outline, sketch in words.[2]
  3. To form an idea of, imagine.[2]
  4. To mould by instruction; to inform, instruct.[2][8]

Word family

  • īnfōrmātiō
  • informator

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson