ingravesco

Forms

ingravēscō (present infinitive ingravēscere); third conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1] Lucretius has it in tmesis, inque gravēscunt.^[2][3] Ammianus writes -isc-, and ingravātus sum serves as its perfect.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + gravēscō (“to grow heavy”),^[2][4] from gravis (“heavy”).^[4] Wiktionary analyses it as ingravō with the inchoative suffix -ēscō.^[1] De Vaan traces gravis to Proto-Italic *gʷra(w)u- and Proto-Indo-European *gʷreh₂-u- (“heavy”);^[5] cognate with Sanskrit गुरु (gurú-, “heavy”) and Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús, “heavy”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero and Lucretius on.^[4] Cicero speaks of age growing heavier and of bodies made heavy by the fatigue of exercise.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides growing heavy, as Seneca's clouds from the south, it is used of old age and of air that grows stifling.^[2] More often it means to grow stronger or worse: Lucretius has winds gathering force, Cicero a disease growing worse, an internal evil that worsens daily, and a rising price of grain that made famine feared.^[2][3] Pliny the Younger has a dying woman growing worse, and Tacitus a man sinking deeper through false reports.^[3] Lucretius also uses it of women becoming pregnant.^[3] Church Latin has “become serious”.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of old age and of worsening disease.^[2][3][7]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of winds gathering force.^[2][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of clouds growing heavy.^[2][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of a man sinking deeper.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grow heavy or heavier; of air, to grow stifling.^[2][3][1]
2. To grow stronger; of troubles and diseases, to grow worse, become serious.^[2][3][1]
3. Of prices, to rise.^[2][3]
4. (poetic) To become pregnant.^[3]

Related words

• gravis
• gravēscō
• ingravō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de