Etymologically
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initus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪ.nɪ.tʊs], [ˈɪ.nɪ.tuːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈiː.ni.tus], [ˈiː.ni.tus][1]

Forms

initus m (genitive initūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ineō (“to go in, enter”) + -tus,[2][1] an action noun of the fourth declension.[2][3] The verb is a compound of in- and eō1 (“to go”),[1] which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁ei- (“to go”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Lucretius,[5] who uses it of the arrival of the goddess, which the birds announce,[3] and of the beginning of motion.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its senses are “entry, approach” and “beginning”.[2][3] Ovid and Pliny the Elder use it of the mounting or covering of a female animal: Pliny says that a horse cannot bear fifteen coverings in the same year.[2][3] Gellius quotes it in a figurative sense, of entering the feelings.[2]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of an arrival and of the start of motion.[2][3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of mating.[3][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the covering of animals.[2][3][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius quotes it in a figurative sense.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Entry, approach, arrival.[2][3]
  2. Beginning, commencement.[2][3]
  3. The covering or mounting of a female animal.[2][3]

Usage notes

The same form is the perfect participle of ineō, “entered upon, begun”.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson