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istinc

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word istinc

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (iste)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪs.tɪŋk][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈis.tiŋk][1]

Forms

istinc (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin istim (“from there”) + -ce.[2][3] istim belongs with the pronoun iste “that (of yours)”, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *es-to-, the source of the Umbrian demonstrative estu too.[4] It is formed like hinc and illinc.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[4][5] whose Miles gloriosus has someone told to guard the doors so that no one slips away from there and crosses over here.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is from the place of the person spoken to, from over there: in letters Cicero uses it of the place where his correspondent is, asking to be told when he means to set out from there.[2][3] Apuleius uses it without reference to a second person, simply from here.[2] It also marks position, on that side, as in Plautus' one of you stand there, the other here.[2] Of a source it is from what you have, and partitively of that: Horace hopes that long age or a frank friend may take away much of his faults from that store.[2] Church Latin glosses it hence, from the place.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of slipping away from there.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero in letters, of the correspondent's place.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a source.[2][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius in the sense from here.[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. From the place where you are; from there, from over there.[2][3][1]
  2. From here, without reference to a second person.[2]
  3. On that side.[2]
  4. From what you have;[2][1] (partitive) of that.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Istinc.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/istinc. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·