infrio

Forms

infriō (present infinitive infriāre, perfect active infriāvī, supine infriātum); first conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + friō (“to crumble”).^[1][3][4] De Vaan lists it with the derivatives of the simple verb, which he takes as made from an adjective Proto-Italic *frio-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰriH-o- (“cut”); the same root gives fricō (“to rub”).^[4] He compares Old Irish brieid (“to hurt, damage”) and Czech bříti (“to shave”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Cato's De agri cultura,^[4][3] in recipes that crumble poppy seed into a dish, flour into water and an ingredient as finely as possible into warm olive lees.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Varro uses it with an ablative of sprinkling bees with warm ash made from fig wood.^[1][3] Celsus and Columella have it in remedies, Columella of rubbing salt into wounds and of copper rust;^[5][3] Pliny the Elder of rue crumbled with bitumen,^[3][2] and Pelagonius, in veterinary medicine, of soot from a cauldron.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in recipes, of crumbling poppy and flour.^[3][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of sprinkling bees with ash.^[1][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it in remedies.^[3][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of rubbing salt into wounds.^[5][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of rue crumbled with bitumen.^[3][6]
• 360 AD – Pelagonius uses it of soot in veterinary remedies.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To crumble or rub (ingredients) into or onto something.^[1][2]
2. (with ablative) To powder or sprinkle with something.^[1][7]

Usage notes

The TLL compares infricō “rub in”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier