inflecto Latin · revision 32288

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la flectō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ĩːˈfɫɛk.toː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iɱˈflɛk.to]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īnflectō''' (present infinitive īnflectere, perfect active īnflexī, supine īnflexum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|flectō|t1=in|t2=to bend]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reconstructs [[m|la|flectō]] as [[itc-pro|*flek-t-]], perhaps with a suffix ⟨-t-⟩ on the model of [[m|la|plectō|t=to plait]]; the root has no clear cognates elsewhere in Indo-European.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008) The OLD's first literal example is from Cicero, who contrasts a stick bent on purpose with one that grew crooked.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is to bend or curve inwards, and in the passive to become bent: Caesar has iron that had bent, Cicero a bay curving round towards a city, and Pliny the Elder mountains curving like a theatre.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is to turn something aside or alter a course, and figuratively to bend a person from his purpose: Cicero speaks of civil law that cannot be bent by favour.^(OLD 2012) In rhetoric it is to modify a word, and to modulate the voice, as to a pitiful tone.^(OLD 2012) Grammarians used it of marking a syllable with the circumflex accent.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a bent stick and of the modulated voice.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of a spear bending in a shield.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 15th century – English [[m|en|inflect]] is borrowed from it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|bend]] or curve inwards; in the passive, to become bent; to tilt.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To turn aside, change the course of.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To turn a person from his purpose, [[m|en|influence]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To adapt, modify, alter; to modulate the voice.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(grammar)'' To mark or pronounce with a circumflex accent.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[īnflexiō]]

+ * [[inflexus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}