infesto Latin · revision 34211

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=43 BC–18 AD, Ovid|origins=la īnfestus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ĩːˈfɛs.tɔ]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īnfestō''' (present infinitive īnfestāre, perfect active īnfestāvī, supine īnfestātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ A deponent form ''īnfestor'', ''īnfestārī'' is also found.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|īnfestus|-ō|t1=hostile, unsafe]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan finds the origin of [[m|la|īnfestus]] unclear.^(de Vaan 2008) He tentatively reconstructs [[itc-pro|*en-fristo-|t=rushing in]], which would fit if [[m|la|festīnō|t=to hurry]] and [[m|la|cōnfestim|t=immediately]] contain a noun meaning “hurry”; the older explanation as “implacable”, from [[ine-pro|*n̥-gʷʰedʰ-to-]], he finds further off in meaning and hard to reconcile with the sound changes.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest quotations are from the ''Bellum Alexandrinum'', of attacks on fortifications, and in Ovid, of the waters that Scylla makes unsafe.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) Lewis and Short call it mostly post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means to vex by repeated attacks, harass, molest, and is also used of diseases and pests, as Celsus of ulcers troubling the stomach, and of Fortune, as Seneca has it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of places it means to make them unsafe by repeated attacks: Ovid has Scylla and Charybdis infesting the two sides of the strait, Pliny the Elder islands infested by sea monsters, and Velleius a sea made unsafe by piracy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny also uses it of disturbing the sleep of fish, and Celsus of a treatment that only delays death and meanwhile impairs life.^(OLD 2012) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to attack, molest, disturb, harass.^(Stelten 1995) Through Old French ''infester'' it became English [[m|en|infest]] in the late 15th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Scylla making the waters unsafe.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius uses it of a sea infested by piracy.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of diseases and of impairing life.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 15th century – English borrows [[m|en|infest]] through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|harass]] by repeated attacks, molest, trouble; also of diseases, pests and Fortune.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To make a place unsafe by repeated attacks, to [[m|en|infest]]; to disturb rest or peace.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To have a bad effect on, [[m|en|damage]], [[m|en|impair]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[īnfestātiō]]

+ * [[īnfestātor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[īnfestē]]

+ * [[īnfestus]]

+ * [[en|infest]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}