insculpo

Forms

īnsculpō (present infinitive īnsculpere, perfect active īnsculpsī, supine īnsculptum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + scalpō (“to scratch, carve”),^[2][3] with the vowel of sculpō;^[1] Wiktionary takes that verb as its base instead.^[1] Forms with scalp- are also found, as in an inscription, and the TLL notes that sculp- appears beside scalp- already in the first authors who use the word.^[2][3] De Vaan tentatively derives scalpō from Proto-Indo-European *sk(e)lp- (“to split off”), comparing Proto-Germanic *skelf- (“to split (off)”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Cicero's philosophical works and Horace on.^[3] Cicero uses it both of carving and figuratively, of things engraved in the mind: nature has imprinted on all minds the belief that the gods exist.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The OLD distinguishes carving a stone or gem, carving letters or designs on something (with the dative), and recording in an inscription, with the figurative sense of fixing something indelibly in the mind.^[2] Horace writes of heirs ordered to carve the sum of an estate on a stone, Quintilian of letters carved on a tablet, and Livy of an altar with a great inscription in Punic and Greek letters.^[2][5] Apuleius uses it of the gem of a ring,^[2] and Macrobius of seals cut in precious gems.^[5] In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to carve, engrave or brand.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of carving and of what is engraved on the mind.^[3][5][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of carving a record on a stone.^[2][5][7]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of an inscribed altar.^[5][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of letters carved on a tablet.^[2][5][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a carved gem.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carve or engrave a stone, gem or similar.^[2]
2. (with dative) To carve letters or designs on something.^[2][5]
3. To record in an inscription.^[2][5]
4. (figurative) To imprint indelibly, to engrave on the mind.^[2][5]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To brand.^[6]

Related words

• English insculp

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 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 g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de