intepeo

Forms

intepeō (present infinitive intepēre, perfect active intepuī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] Georges assigns the perfect intepuī to intepēscō rather than to this verb.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + tepeō (“to be warm”).^[3][1][4][5] De Vaan traces the simple verb to Proto-Italic *tep-ē- (“to be warm”) and Proto-Indo-European *t(e)p-eh₁- (“to be warm”), though he notes that the verb itself has no direct cognates outside Latin except perhaps in Albanian.^[6]

Words from the same root include Old Irish té (“hot”) and Sanskrit तपति (tápati, “to heat, become hot”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Propertius, who says that the Umbrian lake grows warm with summer waters: lacus aestīvīs intepet Umber aquīs.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare poetic word for being lukewarm or moderately warm.^[3][7] In Propertius the reading is disputed: Housman read the simple verb tepet instead.^[4][2] Persius uses it of the Ligurian coast being warm for him in winter, and Statius of a burnt hydra still warm in its waters.^[4][8]

In Late Latin it was used figuratively of growing lukewarm in faith: Cassiodorus describes a man admirable in persevering prayer who did not grow lukewarm under any mockery.^[4] The MLW records it in medieval Latin in the sense “to be lukewarm, to have had enough”.^[9]

Timeline

• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of a lake growing warm in summer.^[4][10]
• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of the Ligurian coast.^[4][10]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of the burnt hydra's waters.^[4][10]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it figuratively of zeal growing lukewarm.^[4][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be lukewarm or moderately warm.^[3][7][2]
2. (Late Latin, figurative) To grow lukewarm, slacken (in zeal).^[4]
3. (Medieval Latin) To be lukewarm; to have had enough.^[9]

Word family

• intepēscō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de