insulto

Forms

īnsultō (present infinitive īnsultāre, perfect active īnsultāvī, supine īnsultātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + saltō (“to leap, dance”).^[2][1] The verb saltō is a frequentative of saliō (“to jump”),^[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *sal-je- (“to jump”) and Proto-Indo-European *sh₂l-ie/o- (“to jump”).^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἅλλομαι (hállomai, “to jump”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius;^[3] Terence has “take care you don't often kick at that door in vain”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It means to leap, jump, dance or trample on something, as Virgil's bees hopping on flowers, and to leap into a place, as Virgil's mothers dancing through the woods in Bacchic bands and Lucan's foot soldiers leaping on the enemy's rear.^[2][4] It also means to behave insultingly, mock or jeer, as Cicero's “I will not insult him more vehemently”, and with an object to mock at, as Sallust's man who had mocked many good men from his youth.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “scoff at, taunt, insult”.^[5] English insult first meant to triumph over arrogantly, in the 1560s, from French and directly from the Latin word.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius.^[3][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of kicking at a door.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of insulting someone.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of bees on flowers and of dancing through woods.^[2][4][7]
• 1560s – English insult, “to triumph over arrogantly”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To leap, jump, dance or trample on; to kick at.^[2][4][1]
2. To leap into, enter with a leap.^[2]
3. To behave insultingly, mock, scoff, taunt.^[2][4][5][1]

Word family

• īnsultābundus
• insultātiō
• insultatrix

Related words

• saltō
• saliō
• īnsiliō

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 i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de