innitor Latin · revision 32304

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 50 BC, Caesar|origins=la nītor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪnˈniː.tɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [inˈniː.tor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''innītor''' (present infinitive innītī, perfect active innīxus sum or innīsus sum); third conjugation, deponent^(Wiktionary)

+ The perfect participle is usually ''innīxus'';^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) ''innīsus'' is found in Tacitus.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|nītor|t1=on|t2=to lean, strive]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reconstructs [[m|la|nītor]] as [[itc-pro|*kniχw-et-]] and, with Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny, connects it with [[m|la|cōnīveō|t=to be tightly closed]]; he notes that the verb's first meaning could have been either to lean on or to exert pressure.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest example in the OLD is in Caesar's ''Gallic War'', of soldiers who fought on leaning on their shields.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is to lean on something for support, usually with the dative: Ovid has a man leaning on his spear, and Propertius one resting on his right shoulder.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The participle in the phrase innīxus genū, “the kneeler”, was a name of the constellation Hercules.^(OLD 2012) Things rest on supports too, as a house on Phrygian columns, and an elephant presses its weight on a man with its knee in the ''Bellum Africum''.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively it is to depend or rely on, as when Livy writes that the fortune of the enemy rests on one man.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin uses it chiefly for relying on God.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of soldiers leaning on their shields.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of fortune resting on one man.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus has the participle ''innīsus''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|lean]] on something for support; to rest or support oneself on part of the body.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of things, to be supported by, rest on.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To put one's weight on, press.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To depend or [[m|en|rely]] on.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}