Etymologically
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ingravesco

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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]

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