intactus

Forms

intāctus (feminine intācta, neuter intāctum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from in- (“not”) and ⟨tāctus⟩, the past participle of tangō (“to touch”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the participle to Proto-Italic *tagto- and Proto-Indo-European *th₂g-to-, from the root of Ancient Greek τεταγών (tetagṓn, “having seized”) and Gothic 𐍄𐌴𐌺𐌰𐌽 (tēkan, “to touch”); its long ⟨ā⟩ is due to Lachmann's law.^[4] The older formation of the same meaning is integer, from Proto-Italic *ntagro- (“untouched”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Lucretius as its first author,^[5] and the OLD's examples begin with Cicero, who says that the citadel of Rome remained safe and untouched (incolumis atque intācta).^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is untouched, and so undamaged, food uneaten, and wealth not plundered (Horace).^[2] Of living beings it is unhurt, as Sallust's “no one escaped unscathed”, of peoples unconquered, as Horace's Briton, and of women virgin, as Virgil's Dido.^[2][6] It is also untouched in reputation (Caelius' Hortensius had reached old age without a hiss), unaffected by something, and unused or untried, of land never tilled and oxen never yoked.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “inviolate, untouched, untried”.^[7] English intact (mid-15th century) comes from it.^[3]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a city left unharmed.^[2][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust of men unscathed.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a virgin bride and of untried woods.^[2][5]
• mid-15th century – English intact.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not touched, untouched.^[2][1][6]
2. Physically undamaged; uneaten; not plundered.^[2][1]
3. Unhurt, unscathed, (of peoples) unconquered.^[2][6]
4. (of women) virgin, chaste.^[2][1]
5. Unharmed in reputation.^[2]
6. Unaffected (by); unimpaired, whole.^[2]
7. Unused, untried, (of land) untilled, (of oxen) never yoked.^[2][1][7]

Related words

• tangō
• integer
• English intact

Usage notes

The OLD also records a rare noun intāctus, -ūs, “intangibility”, in Lucretius,^[2] a line that Lewis and Short call an interpolation.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson