impense Latin · revision 32525

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *(s)pend-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''impēnsē''' (comparative impēnsius, superlative impēnsissimē)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|impēnsus|-ē|t1=costly; great]], from the participle of [[m|la|impendō|t=to spend]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan traces [[m|la|pendō|t=to weigh, pay]] to [[itc-pro|*pend-e/o-|t=to hang, weigh]] and [[ine-pro|*(s)pend-]], a root most handbooks connect with spinning.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lewis & Short quote Plautus first, who uses it with an adjective for someone excessively wicked.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense at great cost, lavishly, is in Persius, who tells a slave to oil the cabbages more generously, and in Suetonius, of libraries rebuilt at great expense after a fire.^(Lewis & Short 1879) More often it is exceedingly, earnestly, eagerly: Terence has one man who envies more than all the others, and Livy and Quintilian use it with verbs of asking and holding on.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short note that the comparative ⟨impēnsius⟩ is especially frequent.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus with an adjective.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of envying intensely.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the comparative.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of holding on eagerly.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # At great cost, [[m|en|lavishly]], without stint.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # [[m|en|exceedingly|alt=Exceedingly]], greatly; earnestly, [[m|en|eagerly]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[impendo|alt=impendō]]

+ * [[impensa|alt=impēnsa]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}