Etymologically
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ingredior

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈɡrɛ.di.ɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈɡrɛː.di.or][1]

Forms

ingredior (present infinitive ingredī, perfect active ingressus sum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, deponent[1] Plautus may have the infinitive ingredīrī, Lucretius splits it (inque gredī); the archaic compound indugredior is found in Lucretius.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“in, into”) + gradior (“to step, walk”), with the vowel weakened in the compound.[2][1][4] De Vaan explains ⟨-gredior⟩ for expected ⟨*-gridior⟩ by analogy with the participle ⟨-gressus⟩, and traces gradior to Proto-Italic *grad-ei-, from a root that Wiktionary gives as Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- (“to step”);[5][1] he compares Old Irish in·greinn (“to chase”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus: ingressus fluvium rapidum, “having gone into a swift river”.[2][6] Ennius has quod iter incipiam ingredī?, “what road shall I start to take?”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Ingredior is to go into or onto a place, properly on foot, and to set out on a road.[2][3] Figuratively it is to enter on a period of office or of life (Sallust: ubi prīmum magistrātum ingressus est) and to begin an undertaking, a speech or a subject (with an infinitive, “to begin to”).[2][1] Used alone it is to walk, move forward (Cicero, of a man who could hardly walk), and to advance to the attack.[2] Döderlein notes that ingredī, like intrāre and introīre, is a literal entering, while inīre is almost always figurative.[7]

In the Bible it is also to go in to a woman.[1] Church Latin glosses it “enter, come in, advance, begin”.[8] English ingredient (early 15th century) and ingress (mid-15th century) come from its present participle and its noun ingressus.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ingressus fluvium rapidum.[2][6]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: quod iter incipiam ingredī?.[2][6]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of entering office.[2][6]
  • early 15th century – English ingredient.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go into, enter; to step onto.[2][3][1][8]
  2. To set out on (a road).[2]
  3. To enter upon (an office, a stage of life).[2][1]
  4. To embark on, begin (an undertaking, a speech); to begin to.[2][1][8]
  5. To walk, advance, proceed.[2][1]
  6. To advance to the attack; to assail.[2]
  7. (biblical) To go in to (a woman).[1]

Word family

  • ingressiō
  • ingressus
  • superingredior
  • aggredior
  • antegredior
  • congredior
  • dēgredior
  • dīgredior
  • ēgredior
  • gradior
  • prōgredior
  • regredior
  • retrōgradior
  • gradus
  • English ingredient
  • English ingress

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com