instillo

Forms

īnstīllō (present infinitive īnstīllāre, perfect active īnstīllāvī, supine īnstīllātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + stīllō (“to fall in drops, drip”),^[2][3][4] and stīllō is formed from stīlla (“drop”).^[1][5] De Vaan takes stīlla as perhaps a diminutive of stīria (“icicle”), from Proto-Italic *stī/eir-(lā-), and finds the usual comparison with words for “stiff” unfounded.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan has it from Cato on,^[5] who in his treatise on farming prescribes juice to be dripped warm into the ear.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is to pour in drop by drop:^[2] Cicero uses it of oil dripped into a lamp, as an image of the mind kept alive in old age,^[2][6] Horace of oil on cabbages, and Ovid of wine poured on a fire.^[2][7] Medical writers such as Celsus and Pliny the Elder use it of drops for the ears and eyes.^[2][4] In Cicero's verse translation of Aeschylus it means to drip on to: drops that drip steadily on the rocks of the Caucasus.^[2]

Figuratively it means to instil little by little: Cicero says a letter put a little life into him, and Horace advises dropping a precept into someone's ears.^[2][6] Seneca uses it of instilling virtue in minds;^[2] Christian writers use it of God instilling the beginning of mercy and of the devil instilling evil.^[4][8] Medieval texts use it of pharmacy and medicine, of giving to drink and of inspiring or whispering.^[9] English instill (early 15th century) comes from it.^[10]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of dripping juice into the ear.^[2][11]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of oil in a lamp, of a letter that revives him, and of drops on a rock.^[2][11]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a precept dropped into the ears.^[2][11]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of medicine dropped in.^[4][11]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as instill.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pour in drop by drop, drop in.^[2][6]
2. (figurative) To introduce little by little, instill, inspire.^[2][6]
3. To drip on to.^[2][6]

Word family

• instillātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de