insinuo

Forms

īnsinuō (present infinitive īnsinuāre, perfect active īnsinuāvī, supine īnsinuātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from in (“into”) and sinus (“fold, bosom”), “to put into the fold”; the TLL takes it from the phrase ⟨in sinum⟩, the OLD from in- and sinuō (“to bend, curve”).^[2][3] De Vaan lists it under ⟨sinus⟩, which he traces to Proto-Italic *sinu-, probably cognate with Albanian gji (“breast”); it has no further etymology.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] The OLD's earliest examples are from Lucretius, who writes of the sun hardly able to work its heat into houses.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its first senses are to work something in by winding ways and, with a reflexive, to make one's way in: Lucretius has a thing from outside working its way in, and the soul entering the body at birth.^[3] From this came “to work oneself into favour”: Cicero warns against the cunning flatterer who insinuates himself, and tells how a man wormed his way into Metellus' friendship.^[3] Seneca uses it of instilling virtue in the mind, and the jurists of making something known.^[3] Post-classical writers also have the literal sense “to put into the bosom”, as Apuleius' walking with folded arms.^[5][1]

Church Latin glosses it “insinuate, convey, make known, teach”.^[6] English insinuate (1520s) comes from its past participle.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[4][8]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of things working their way in.^[3][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of insinuating oneself into favour.^[3][8]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian of making a wish known.^[3][8]
• 1520s – English insinuate.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To work in by winding means, insert.^[3][1]
2. To make one's way in, get in, penetrate.^[3][1]
3. To introduce into someone's favour; to work oneself into favour, ingratiate oneself.^[3][1]
4. To instil an idea; to convey, make known.^[3][1][6]
5. (post-classical) To put into the bosom; with folded hands.^[5][1]

Word family

• īnsinuātiō
• īnsinuātor
• īnsinuātrīx

Related words

• sinuō
• sinus
• English insinuate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c 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 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de