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intepesco

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word intepesco

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin tepeō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tepeo
Latin intepeo
Latin intepesco
From the same root
Latin tepor ← tepeo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪn.tɛˈpeːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in.teˈpɛs.ko][1]

Forms

intepēscō (present infinitive intepēscere, perfect active intepuī); third conjugation[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin intepeō (“to be lukewarm”) + -scō, an inchoative verb.[2] The verb intepeō is formed from in- and tepeō (“to be warm”),[4][1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *tep-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *t(e)p-eh₁- (“to be warm”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records the sense of growing warm from Virgil and Ovid on.[4] In the Aeneid a sword-point grows warm: ut semel intepuit mucrō.[2]

Semantic evolution

The opposite sense, of something hot that cools to lukewarm, appears from Seneca and Scribonius Largus on:[4] Seneca writes of a spring that turned cool when it should have been hot,[2] and Columella uses it of the year.[3] Figuratively it is used of love warming a heart in Statius, and of passions that slacken, as cruelty that cools in Petronius.[2][3]

Ammianus spells it ⟨intepisc-⟩.[4]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a sword growing warm.[2][4][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of growing warm.[4][3][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of heat cooling down.[2][4][6]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of cruelty that abates.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To become warm, warm up;[2][4] (figurative) to glow (with love).[2][4]
  2. To become lukewarm, cool down.[2][3]
  3. (figurative, of passions) To become less intense, slacken.[2][3]

References

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

“Intepesco.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/intepesco. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·