infusio

Forms

īnfūsiō f (genitive īnfūsiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin īnfundō (“to pour in”) + -tiō.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Scribonius Largus and Pliny the Elder on,^[3] meaning the pouring in or on of medicaments;^[2] Pliny has it of oil given as a clyster.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Later writers widened it: Palladius uses it of rain and of a dose of theriac, Ambrose of poison and of the dyeing of a fleece, and Caelius Aurelianus of a flow of moisture in the body.^[4] The plural is apparently not found before Ambrose.^[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it also means an outpouring.^[5] English took infusion from Old French or directly from Latin around 1400.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus has it, the earliest author the TLL names.^[3][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of oil given as a clyster.^[4][7]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of poison and of dyeing a fleece, and has the first plural.^[4][3][7]
• late 4th or early 5th century AD – Palladius uses it of rain.^[4][7]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as infusion.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pouring in or on, especially of medicaments; an infusion.^[2][4]
2. A watering, wetting (as by rain).^[4]
3. A dyeing (of wool).^[4]
4. A flow (of fluid in the body).^[4]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An outpouring.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de