Etymologically
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transfundo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [trãːfˈfʊn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [transˈfun.do][1]

Forms

trānsfundō (present infinitive trānsfundere, perfect active trānsfūdī, supine trānsfūsum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin trāns- (“across”) + fundō1 (“to pour”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces fundō1 to Proto-Italic *χund- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵhu-n-d- (“to pour”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek χέω (khéō, “to pour”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Cato's work on farming, telling the reader to pour water into another jar: transfundito in alterum dolium.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to pour from one vessel into another, to decant:[2][6] Columella pours water into other vessels and Pliny the Elder molten sand into other furnaces, and Lucan uses it poetically of placing the ashes of the dead in an urn.[6] Celsus has the passive of blood passing into the veins.[2] Figuratively it is to transfer affection or feelings from one person to another: Cicero has someone say he had cast off all his love for an actress and transferred it to this woman.[2] In law it is to transfer and merge something into something else, or to pass rights to another, as in Ulpian.[2] In Church Latin it is to pour, transfer or transfuse.[7] English transfuse comes from its participle trānsfūsus in the early 15th century.[3]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato, of pouring into another jar.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of transferring love.[2][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus, of blood passing into veins.[2][5]
  • early 15th century – English transfuse.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pour from one vessel into another, decant.[2][6][1]
  2. To transfuse; in the passive, to pass into.[2][1]
  3. To transfer (affection or feelings) to another.[2][7]
  4. (law) To transfer and merge; to pass (rights) to another.[2]

Word family

  • trānsfūsiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson