inuro

Forms

inūrō (present infinitive inūrere, perfect active inussī, supine inustum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“in, on”) + ūrō (“to burn”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces ūrō to Proto-Italic *ouse/o- (“to burn”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eus-e/o- (“to burn”), comparing Sanskrit ओषति (oṣati, “burns, scorches”) and Ancient Greek εὕω (heúō, “to singe”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest examples are in Lucretius, of marks left by heat, and in Cicero.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to burn or scorch, as the sun that thins the body in Celsus, and in medicine to cauterize;^[2] Quintilian uses it of curling hair with hot tongs.^[2] It is to make a mark by burning, and Pliny the Elder uses it of encaustic painting, as the painter Nicias wrote that he had burnt in a picture.^[2][5] Above all it is to brand or stamp indelibly, figuratively: Cicero asks Catiline what mark of domestic disgrace has not been branded on his life, and speaks of the censors' mark of shame.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of marks made by heat.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the brand of disgrace.^[2][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of scorching and cauterizing.^[2][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of encaustic painting.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To burn, scorch; to cauterize; to curl hair with hot tongs.^[2][5][1]
2. To imprint by burning; to paint in encaustic.^[2][5]
3. To brand, impress indelibly; to brand with a mark.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press