Etymologically
Log in

intrico

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 21:12. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɪnˈtriː.koː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [inˈtriː.ko][1]

Forms

intrīcō (present infinitive intrīcāre, perfect active intrīcāvī, supine intrīcātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from in- and trīcae “trifles, perplexities” with the verbal suffix -ō.[2][3] The TLL compares extrīcō and trīcor.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, in the Persa, has a slave promise to deliver the pimp entangled.[5][6] Köbler dates Plautus about 250–184 BC.[7]

Semantic evolution

It meant to entangle in a snare, to involve in difficulties or embarrass, and to entangle affairs, and Lewis & Short call it mostly ante- and post-classical.[2][5] Gellius quotes Cicero saying that Chrysippus entangles himself in this way.[5][3] The jurist Ulpian uses it of encumbering a slave's peculium.[6]

It lives on in Italian intricare and Italian intrigare and in Spanish intrincar.[1] English took intricate from its participle in the early 15th century, and intrigue through French and Italian intrigare in the 1610s.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of entangling a pimp.[5][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Chrysippus.[5][7]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of encumbering a peculium.[6][7]
  • early 15th century – English intricate is recorded.[8]
  • 1610s – English intrigue is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To entangle, perplex, embarrass.[2][1]
  2. To entangle (affairs); to encumber.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com