inveho

Forms

invehō (present infinitive invehere, perfect active invē̆xī, supine invectum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from in- (“in, into; against”) and vehō (“to carry”).^[2][3][1] ⟨vehō⟩ goes back to Proto-Italic *weχ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ueǵʰ-e/o- (“to carry”), cognate with Sanskrit वहति (váhati, “carries, conveys”), Ancient Greek ὄχος (ókhos, “cart”), Lithuanian vèžti (“to carry”) and Old Church Slavonic вести (vesti, “to carry”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “Oh, proudly you attack me!” in the Mercator, the passive in the sense “to inveigh”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its active is to carry or bring in, as Livy's supplies brought in from the Samnite mountains, and of rivers to carry along, as the island made of things the river carried down; it is to import, as Varro's knives not yet imported from Bithynia, and figuratively to bring in or introduce, as Cicero's troubles introduced by eloquent men.^[2][5][1] Vitruvius uses it of beams that carry the floors of porticoes.^[2]

In the passive it is to ride, drive or sail into a place, as Cicero's men sailing into harbour, or with the vehicle named, as Virgil's “drawn by horses”; in the passive or with sē it is to ride or charge in to attack, as in Livy.^[2][1] The passive with in is also to attack with words, to inveigh against, as in Plautus and Cicero.^[2][5][1]

Church Latin glosses it “bear, carry in, attack, introduce”.^[6] English inveigh came from it in the late 15th century, first as “to introduce”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of verbal attack.^[2][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of imported knives.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of sailing into harbour.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of supplies brought in and of cavalry charges.^[2][8]
• late 15th century – Borrowed into English as inveigh.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carry or bring in; to import;^[2][5][1][6] to introduce.^[2][6]
2. (passive) To ride, drive or sail in.^[2][1]
3. (passive or reflexive) To ride in to attack, charge, assail.^[2][1][6]
4. (passive) To attack with words, inveigh (against).^[2][5][1]
5. To support, carry.^[2]

Word family

• invectiō

Related words

• vehō
• advehō
• invectīvus
• English inveigh
• English invective

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de