Etymologically
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inhorresco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.nɔrˈreːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.norˈrɛs.ko][1]

Forms

inhorrēscō (present infinitive inhorrēscere, perfect active inhorruī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

The OLD and the TLL take it as from Latin in- + horrēscō (“to bristle, shudder”),[2][3] while Wiktionary derives it from inhorreō (“to bristle”) with the inchoative suffix -scō.[1] De Vaan lists it under horreō, which he traces to Proto-Italic *χors-ē- (“to be stiff”) and Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰr̥s-eh₁- (“to be stiff, surprised”), comparing Sanskrit हर्षते (hárṣate, “to be delighted”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Pacuvius,[4] in whom the sea grows rough at sunset.[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Its core sense is to become stiffly erect or to bristle: Seneca has hair standing on end with anger, and Pliny the Elder sealskins whose hairs bristle when the tide goes out.[2] Celsus uses it of skin that roughens under hot water and of limbs that begin to shiver.[2] Pliny says hens ruffle their feathers after laying.[5] Of the sea and storms it is to grow restless,[2] and with a cause to start shaking with fear or shrink back: Seneca writes of a man who will shudder at sudden things.[2] The TLL finds the present stem in Pacuvius and then from Celsus on, the perfect from Cicero, Virgil, Horace and Ovid.[3] Wiktionary gives horrēscō as a synonym.[1]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of the sea growing rough at sunset.[2][4][6]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of roughening skin and shivering limbs.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of hair standing on end and of shuddering at sudden things.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of bristling sealskins.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become stiffly erect, stand on end; to bristle; of a surface, to become rough or wrinkled.[2][5][1]
  2. Of the sea or storms, to become restless or agitated.[2][5]
  3. To begin to shiver or tremble, with cold or with fear; to shrink back.[2][1]

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