Etymologically
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inscendo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩːˈskɛn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in̠ʲˈʃɛn.do][1]

Forms

īnscendō (present infinitive īnscendere, perfect active īnscendī, supine īnscensum); third conjugation, no passive[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“in, on”) + scandō (“to climb”).[2][1][3] The verb scandō goes back to Proto-Italic *skand-e/o- (“to ascend”) and Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump up, ascend”).[4]

Manuscripts sometimes spell it with ⟨-ind-⟩.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[3][5] who has īnscendam aliquam in arborem, “I'll climb up some tree”.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus it is already used for getting into a chariot and, without an object, for going on board a ship.[2][6][7] Cato uses it with suprā, Cicero of mounting a burning pyre,[7] and Suetonius of mounting a horse;[7] Gellius says of Bucephalus that he let no one but the king mount him.[7] Apuleius uses it of male animals covering the female.[2][7]

Döderlein counts it, with ascendere and cōnscendere, among the verbs for mounting a height in general, without the effort that scandō implies.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for climbing a tree, mounting a chariot and embarking.[2][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it with suprā.[7][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of mounting a pyre.[7][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of mounting a horse.[7][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of animals mating.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To climb up on or into.[2][7]
  2. To mount (a horse, a chariot); to go on board, embark.[2][7][6]
  3. (of male animals) To mount, cover.[2][7]

Word family

  • inscensiō
  • inscensus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper