innuo Latin · revision 35922

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *neu-e/o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɪn.nu.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈin.nu.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''innuō''' (present infinitive innuere, perfect active innuī, supine innūtum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|*nuō|t1=to, towards|t2=to nod]].^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) De Vaan lists it with [[m|la|abnuō|t=to refuse]] and [[m|la|adnuō|t=to nod assent]] under ⟨-nuō⟩, which goes back to [[itc-pro|*nowe/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*neu-e/o-|t=to nod]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[grc|νεύω|tr=neúō|t=to nod, beckon]] and [[sga|ad·nói|t=to entrust]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on:^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) in the ''Rudens'' a speaker says ''ubi ego innuero vobis'', “when I give you the nod”.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means to give a nod or sign to someone, usually with the head, often with a dative of the person:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) in Terence's ''Eunuchus'' a character answers that she gave nothing but a nod as she left, and Livy has a speaker ask why they should not simply answer the Romans that they will lay down their arms at a nod.^(TLL)^(Conte 2010) Pliny the Younger has a figure that stood and beckoned with its finger, like someone calling.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) The TLL finds it in Plautus, Terence, the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'', Ovid and Livy, but not in Cicero, Virgil or Horace, and notes that manuscripts often confuse it with ⟨adnuō⟩.^(TLL)

+

+ The ancient grammarians distinguished it from its neighbours: for Nonius ''innuere'' is to signify with the face and ''adnuere'' to grant, and for Charisius one ''innuit'' with the head or the eyebrow, but ''adnuit'' to what has been said or done.^(TLL) Donatus explains it as “to signify”,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Gaffiot gives the transitive sense “to indicate” in Vitruvius.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Georges 1913) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to make a sign, signal, hint or intimate.^(Stelten 1995) Its ablative gerund ''innuendo'', “by hinting”, gave English [[m|en|innuendo]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of giving a signal with a nod.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a nod given in leaving.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the Romans' nod.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it in his sixth satire.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1670s – English borrows [[m|en|innuendo]], from its gerund.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To give a [[m|en|nod]], make a sign (especially with the head), [[m|en|beckon]] (to someone).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # To [[m|en|intimate]], signify, indicate.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[adnuō]]

+ * [[abnuō]]

+ * [[nūtō]]

+ * [[nūmen]]

+ * [[en|innuendo]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Nonius reports that the ancients assigned ''nūtāre'' to the head, ''innuere'' to the nostrils or lips and ''nictāre'' to the eyes, and separates ''innuere'' from [[adnuō]], to nod assent.^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}