Etymologically
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invenio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɪnˈwɛ.ni.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iɱˈvɛː.ni.o][1]

Forms

inveniō (present infinitive invenīre, perfect active invēnī, supine inventum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from in- “upon” and veniō “to come”, so “to come upon”.[2][1][3] Pomponius has an old future ⟨invenībit⟩ for ⟨inveniet⟩.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of finding a person and of devising.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to come upon, meet, find a person or thing, as in Plautus, and to find in some condition, as Cicero's young men “found dead”.[2][5] It meant to locate something lost, to discover by searching, to find in a book, and to find out a fact.[2] It meant to devise, contrive, and in rhetoric to devise arguments, and to originate, invent.[2] It also meant to acquire, get for oneself, and to meet with.[2] Döderlein explains that invenīre is the general word for finding, while reperīre and dēprehendere suppose that the thing was hidden and sought with effort.[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to find, discover, obtain, come upon, invent.[7] It survives in Italian invenire, and English invent came about 1500 from its participle inventus, first meaning “to find, discover”.[1][8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of finding and of devising.[2][4]
  • 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of discovering someone to be.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of finding by search and of devising arguments.[2][4]
  • c. 1500 – English invent is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To come upon, meet, find.[2]
  2. To find, locate something lost; to discover by searching.[2]
  3. To find out, learn; to discover to be.[2]
  4. To devise, contrive, (rhetoric) to devise arguments.[2]
  5. To originate, invent.[2]
  6. To acquire, get; to meet with.[2]

Word family

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 n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com