Etymologically
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intento

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪnˈtɛn.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [inˈtɛn.to][1]

Forms

intentō (present infinitive intentāre, perfect active intentāvī, supine intentātum); first conjugation[1] Manuscripts sometimes spell it intemto or intempto.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin intendō (“to stretch out, aim”) + -tō, a frequentative formed on the supine stem ⟨intent-⟩.[3][2][1] The verb is in- with tendō (“to stretch”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *tend- and Proto-Indo-European *ten-d(ʰ)- (“to stretch”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Cicero's Pro Roscio Amerino, of a book held out towards Sextus Roscius.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to hold out or point towards something, and oculos intentare is to fix one's gaze.[3] Above all it is to point weapons threateningly: Cicero writes of burning torches held out and of a dagger aimed at him, Tacitus of hands raised in threat, and Suetonius of drawn swords.[3][5] From this it came to mean to threaten, as Livy's few men who threaten the Roman empire.[3] Church Latin glosses it to threaten, aim.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a book held out and of torches brandished.[3][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of threatening an empire.[3][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of hands raised in threat.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hold out towards, point at;[3][5][1] oculos intentare, to fix one's gaze.[3][5][1]
  2. To point weapons threateningly;[3][5] manus intentare, to shake one's fist.[3][5]
  3. To threaten, menace.[3][6][1]

Word family

  • intentātiō
  • intentator

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b 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. ^ 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 f 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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de