ingestio

Forms

ingestiō f (genitive ingestiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ingerō (“to pour in, heap on”), a noun of action formed on its past participle ⟨ingestus⟩ with the suffix -tiō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Among its earliest records are Augustine (354–430 AD),^[4] who writes in his unfinished work against Julian of the infliction of a penalty,^[3] and the Theodosian Code (438),^[4] where it is the pouring of molten lead into the mouth and throat of a condemned man.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it kept the literal sense of pouring or introducing something, used by the medical writer Caelius Aurelianus of a large draught of liquid,^[2][3] and Julian of Eclanum has it of the taking in of food.^[2] Martianus Capella used it figuratively for the uttering of a first sound,^[2][5] and Augustine for the imposing of a penalty.^[2][3]

Medieval writers used it for the intake of food: Albertus Magnus sets it beside digestion and excretion.^[6] In British sources it meant the laying on of something, and with manuum an assault, laying hands on someone.^[7] English took it over as ingestion in the 1610s.^[8]

Timeline

• 354–430 AD – Augustine writes of the infliction (ingestio) of a penalty.^[2][3][4]
• 438 – The Theodosian Code uses it for the pouring of molten lead into the mouth.^[2][4]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of taking in a quantity of liquid,^[2][3][4] and Martianus Capella of the uttering of a sound.^[2][4]
• 1293 – A British record uses manuum ingestio of an assault.^[7]
• 1610s – Borrowed into English as ingestion.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pouring in, introduction: the act of putting something into the body.^[2][5][3]
2. The utterance of a sound.^[2][5][9]
3. The infliction or imposing of a penalty.^[2][3][10]
4. (Medieval Latin) The intake of food.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) A laying on; with manuum, an assault.^[7]

Related words

• ingerō
• English ingestion

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.