Etymologically
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insuesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩː.suˈeːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in.suˈɛs.ko][1]

Forms

īnsuēscō (present infinitive īnsuēscere, perfect active īnsuēvī, supine īnsuētum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + suēscō (“to become accustomed”).[2][1] De Vaan explains suēscō as an inchoative built on Proto-Indo-European *sue(h₁-)dʰh₁- (“to make one's own, get accustomed”), from Proto-Italic *swē(þ)-sk-e/o-, and notes that the compounds are older than the simple verb, which is a back-formation.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Captivi, with the pluperfect ⟨insueram⟩: “I who had been used to command now obey another's command”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Intransitively it is to grow used to something, with an infinitive, a dative or ad: Terence has getting used to lying, Sallust to giving and to love and drink, and Livy to military discipline.[4] Vitruvius uses it of a vice that should not become ingrained in a city's youth.[2] Transitively it is to accustom someone: Lucretius has growing used to living with someone, Horace says his father accustomed him to avoid vices, and Columella has accustoming a herd to water.[2][4] Lewis & Short note that it is not in Cicero or Caesar.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of having grown used to command.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, of growing used to lying.[4][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius, in the transitive sense.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of a father's training.[4][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To become accustomed, grow used (to); to become ingrained.[2][4][1]
  2. (transitive) To accustom, habituate.[2][4][1]

Word family

  • insuēfaciō

Usage notes

The TLL also records a rare īnsuēscō “to become unaccustomed”, from glosses, back-formed from īnsuētus “unused”.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften