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ingero

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word ingero

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (gerō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gero
Latin congero
Latin ingero

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪŋ.ɡɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈin̠ʲ.d͡ʒe.ro][1]

Forms

ingerō (present infinitive ingerere, perfect active ingessī, supine ingestum); third conjugation[1] Catullus has the imperative inger for ingere.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- + gerō (“to carry”).[2][1][4][5] De Vaan traces ⟨gerō⟩ to Proto-Italic *ges-e/o- and a stem Proto-Indo-European *h₂ǵ-es- (“to carry”), built on the root of agō (“to drive”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Plautus' Pseudolus a slave with an urn is told aquam ingere, “pour in water”;[2] Cato bids the farmer heap on as much sheep's dung as he can.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to heap or pile on and to pour in, and of food and drink to take in large amounts, as Celsus' doctor who poured more cold water into a fever patient.[2] It is to rain down missiles or blows (Terence: punches in the belly), to heap insults or punishments on someone, and to fling oneself.[2] It is to thrust unwelcome things on a person, as Seneca the Elder's explanations, and to obtrude a fact (Cicero: I keep bringing up the past), and in Propertius to din something into someone's ears.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “infuse, pour into, execute”.[7] English ingest (1610s) comes from its past participle ingestus.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of pouring in water.[2][8]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of heaping on dung.[2][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of raining blows.[2][8]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of making a patient drink.[2][8]
  • 1610s – English ingest.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To heap on, pile up; to pour in.[2][1][7]
  2. To take in (food or drink).[2]
  3. To rain down (missiles, blows); to heap (insults, punishments) on.[2][1]
  4. To force on (a person); to obtrude.[2][1]
  5. To say repeatedly, din into someone's ears.[2]

Word family

  • adingero
  • ingestiō
  • ingestus
  • superingerō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Ingero.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/ingero. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·