Etymologically
Log in

iniungo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 18:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪnˈjʊŋ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [inˈjuŋ.ɡo][1]

Forms

iniungō (present infinitive iniungere, perfect active iniūnxī, supine iniūnctum); third conjugation[1] The spelling injungo is also used.[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + iungō (“to join”).[3][1][4] De Vaan traces iungō to Proto-Italic *jung-e/o- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *(H)iunégti (“to yoke”).[5] Cognate with Sanskrit युनज्मि (yunájmi, “I yoke”), Ancient Greek ζεύγνυμι (zeúgnumi, “to yoke”) and Lithuanian jùngti (“to join, yoke”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest examples in the OLD are in a letter of Plancus and Decimus Brutus among Cicero's correspondence, of not imposing any loss on the state, and in Livy, of a wall joined on to the walls of Ardea.[3]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to join on or fasten to something, as Livy's beams joined to rafters and his siege wall, and Palladius uses it of setting a tree into a trench.[3][2] Columella has it of pairing animals for breeding, and a papyrus of enrolling someone in a body.[3] Figuratively it is to impose tasks, duties or punishments on someone, and in a good sense to bestow an honour, as in the Culex.[3][2] Church Latin glosses it “impose, enjoin, inflict”.[6] English enjoin (c. 1200), first of imposing a penance, came from it through Old French.[7]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of joining walls and beams.[3][2][8]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of pairing animals.[3][8]
  • c. 1200 – English enjoin through Old French.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To join on, fasten, attach; to pair animals; to enrol.[3][2][1]
  2. To impose a task, duty or punishment; to enjoin, charge.[3][2][1][6]
  3. To bestow an honour.[3]

Word family

  • iniūnctiō
  • subiniungō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de