irritamentum

Forms

irrītāmentum n (genitive irrītāmentī); second declension^[1] It is often spelled inr-.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin irrītō (“to provoke”) + -mentum.^[1][2] De Vaan takes irrītō as probably a verb made from Proto-Italic *rīto- (“stirred”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃riH-to- (“whirled, stirred”), and compares Sanskrit रीयते (rī́yate, “to flow, whirl”) and Ancient Greek ὀρίνω (orī́nō, “to whirl”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL date it from Sallust,^[4][2] who writes of things that stir the appetite.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is whatever provokes or excites, an incentive, stimulus or spur, most often in the plural.^[1][5] After Sallust it is found in Ovid and Livy and then through all Latinity, but rarely in poetry.^[2] Livy has soldiers' anger sharpened by provocations, Tacitus incitements to envy.^[5] Lewis & Short give incitāmentum, invītāmentum and illecebra as synonyms.^[5]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust of stimulants of the appetite.^[5][2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of provocations to anger.^[5][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of incitements to envy.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. That which provokes or excites; an incentive, stimulus, spur.^[1][5]

Related words

• irrītō
• incitāmentum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press