Etymologically
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inquino

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɪŋ.kʷɪ.noː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈiŋ.kʷi.no][1]

Forms

inquinō (present infinitive inquināre, perfect active inquināvī, supine inquinātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[1] The OLD analyses it as in- (“in, on”) and a verb *quinō, apparently related to caenum “mud, filth” and cūniō “to defecate”, from which Festus derived it.[2][3][1] Pokorny connects it with caenum and obscēnus.[1] Varro has the spelling ⟨incun-⟩.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citations are from Plautus, of soiling clothing.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to make dirty, befoul, stain, as Plautus' soiled garment, to make unwholesome, as Cicero's water tainted by corpses, and without blame to smear or daub, as in Vitruvius.[2][5][3] Figuratively it meant to debase, as in Horace, to pollute with crime or make ceremonially unclean, as in Varro, and to besmirch a reputation, defame, as in Cicero.[2] Döderlein says contāminō stresses the harmful effect of defilement, inquināre its loathsomeness.[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to spoil, pollute, defile.[7] It survives in Spanish enconar “to inflame”, and English inquinate is a learned borrowing.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of soiling clothes.[3][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of ritual pollution.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of tainted water and of defamation.[2][5][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To befoul, soil, stain.[2]
  2. To taint; to smear.[2]
  3. To debase, contaminate.[2]
  4. To pollute (with crime); to make unclean.[2]
  5. To besmirch, defame.[2]

Word family

  • coinquinō
  • inquināmentum
  • inquinātiō
  • inquinātē
  • inquinātus

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson