Latin

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Etymology

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Back-formation from the past participle imbūtus, itself from Proto-Italic *enðūtos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁en-dʰh₁-u-h₁-tós, an instrumental-based participial derivative of *h₁en (in) +‎ *dʰeh₁- (to do, place) +‎ *-us +‎ *-tós.[1]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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imbuō (present infinitive imbuere, perfect active imbuī, supine imbūtum); third conjugation

  1. to wet, moisten, dip
    Synonyms: rigō, perfundō
    Antonyms: siccō, dūrō
    • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 4.13–21:
      Amastri Pontica et Cytōre buxifer,
      tibi haec fuisse et esse cognitissima
      ait phasēlus; ultimā ex orīgine
      tuō stetisse dīcit in cacūmine,
      tuō imbuisse palmulās in aequore,
      et inde tot per impotentia freta
      erum tulisse, laeva sīve dextera
      vocāret aura, sīve utrumque Iuppiter
      simul secundus incidisset in pedem.
      Pontic Amastris and boxwood-bearing Cytorus,
      to you to have been and to be most acquainted
      claims the phaselus; from the first origin
      to have stood on your mountaintop,
      in your water to have dipped the shears,
      and thence over so many powerless waves
      to have taken the master, whether a left- or right-hand
      breeze called, or whichever sheet
      Jupiter came astern at the same time on.
    • 9 CE, Ovid, The Ibis 223–228:
      Prōtinus Eumenidēs lāvēre palūstribus undīs,
           quā cava dē Stygiīs flūxerat unda vadīs,
      pectoraque ūnxērunt Ērebeae felle colubrae
           terque cruentātās increpuēre manūs,
      gutturaque inbuērunt īnfantia lacte canīnō:
           hic prīmus puerī vēnit in ōra cibus.
      Immediately the Furies washed him in the marshy waters,
           where the hollow wave flowed from the ford of the Styx
      and anointed his chest with the venom of a serpent from Erebus
           and thrice clapped their bloodied hands
      and moistened the infant throat with dog milk:
           this food came first into the child's mouth.
  2. to fill, tinge, stain, taint, infect, imbue
    Synonyms: impleō, expleō, compleō, cumulō, stīpō
    Antonyms: exhauriō, dēpleō, dēfundō
    • C.E. 4th C., Nonius Marcellus (author), W. M. Lindsay (editor), Dē compendiōsā doctrīnā (1903), page 838:
      Inbuere cōnsuētūdō indūcere extimat, cum sit propriē maculāre vel polluere vel īnficere. Accius Armōrum Iūdiciō: 'Inter quōs saepe et multō imbūtōs sanguine'. Īdem Melanippō: 'Crēditĭs mē amīcī morte inbūtūrum manūs?'
      To imbue is usually taken to mean specifically to stain or soil or tinge. Accius in The Trial of Weapons: 'Amongst them oft too tainted with much blood'. The same in Melanippus: 'You think I'm going to stain my hands with the blood of a friend?'
  3. to accustom or impress early, inspire, imbue
    Synonyms: īnspīrō, perfundō
    • c. 45 BCE, Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 5.78:
      Aegyptiōrum mōrem quis ignōrat? quōrum inbūtae mentēs prāvitātis errōribus quamvīs carnificīnam prius subierint quam ībim aut aspidem aut faelem aut canem aut corcodillum violent, quōrum etiamsī inprūdentēs quippiam fēcerint, poenam nūllam recūsent.
      Who doesn't know the custom of the Egyptians? whose minds accustomed to delusions of wrongness would rather undergo as much torture as you want than desecrate the ibis or the asp or the cat or the crocodile, and to whom, even if one inadvertently did something to, he would not refuse any punishment.
  4. to do something for the first time, set the example
    • 30 BCE – 16 BCE, Propertius, Elegies 4.10.5–8:
      Imbuis exemplum prīmae tū, Rōmule, palmae
           huius, et exuviō plēnus ab hoste redīs,
      tempore quō portās Caenīnum Acrōna petentem
           victor in ēversum cuspide fundis equum.
      You set the example, Romulus, of the first prize,
           and return loaded with spoils from the enemy,
      at the time when the Caenine Acron going for the gates
           you kill with a spear upon his fallen horse.
  5. to instruct, initiate, train to a degree; familiarise
    Synonyms: īnstruō, doceō, discō, ēducō, ērudiō, ēdoceō, magistrō, fingō
    • 20 BCE – 14 BCE, Horace, Epistles 2.2.1–9:
      Flōre, bonō clārōque fidēlis amīce Nerōnī,
      sī quis forte velit puerum tibi vēndere nātum
      Tībure vel Gabiīs, et tēcum sīc agat: 'Hīc et
      candidus et tālōs ā vertice pulcher ad īmōs
      fīet eritque tuus nummōrum mīlibus octō,
      verna ministeriīs ad nūtūs aptus erīlīs,
      litterulīs Graecīs imbutūs, idōneus artī
      cuilibet; argillā quidvīs imitāberis ūdā;
      quīn etiam canet indoctum sed dulce bibentī. [] '
      Florus, faithful friend to the good and famous Tiberius Claudius Nero,
      if someone by chance wanted to sell you a slave born
      at Tibur or Gabii, and dealt with you thus: 'This one
      will become white and beautiful from top to the lowest ankles
      and will be yours for eight thousand sesterces,
      a home-born slave apt for tasks at the master's nod,
      somewhat initiated in Greek learning, fitting for any
      trade; you'll model whatever you will in wet clay;
      moreover, he'll also sing, artlessly but sweetly, to you when you drink. []
    • c. 102 CE, Tacitus, Dialogus de oratoribus 19.5:
      [] vix in cortīnā quisquam adsistat quīn elementīs studiōrum, etsī nōn instrūctus, at certē imbūtus sit []
      [] hardly does anyone stand in the circle of hearers who isn't, if not instructed, but surely familiarised with the elements of study []

Conjugation

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   Conjugation of imbuō (third conjugation)
indicative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present imbuō imbuis imbuit imbuimus imbuitis imbuunt
imperfect imbuēbam imbuēbās imbuēbat imbuēbāmus imbuēbātis imbuēbant
future imbuam imbuēs imbuet imbuēmus imbuētis imbuent
perfect imbuī imbuistī imbuit imbuimus imbuistis imbuērunt,
imbuēre
pluperfect imbueram imbuerās imbuerat imbuerāmus imbuerātis imbuerant
future perfect imbuerō imbueris imbuerit imbuerimus imbueritis imbuerint
passive present imbuor imbueris,
imbuere
imbuitur imbuimur imbuiminī imbuuntur
imperfect imbuēbar imbuēbāris,
imbuēbāre
imbuēbātur imbuēbāmur imbuēbāminī imbuēbantur
future imbuar imbuēris,
imbuēre
imbuētur imbuēmur imbuēminī imbuentur
perfect imbūtus + present active indicative of sum
pluperfect imbūtus + imperfect active indicative of sum
future perfect imbūtus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive singular plural
first second third first second third
active present imbuam imbuās imbuat imbuāmus imbuātis imbuant
imperfect imbuerem imbuerēs imbueret imbuerēmus imbuerētis imbuerent
perfect imbuerim imbuerīs imbuerit imbuerīmus imbuerītis imbuerint
pluperfect imbuissem imbuissēs imbuisset imbuissēmus imbuissētis imbuissent
passive present imbuar imbuāris,
imbuāre
imbuātur imbuāmur imbuāminī imbuantur
imperfect imbuerer imbuerēris,
imbuerēre
imbuerētur imbuerēmur imbuerēminī imbuerentur
perfect imbūtus + present active subjunctive of sum
pluperfect imbūtus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present imbue imbuite
future imbuitō imbuitō imbuitōte imbuuntō
passive present imbuere imbuiminī
future imbuitor imbuitor imbuuntor
non-finite forms active passive
present perfect future present perfect future
infinitives imbuere imbuisse imbūtūrum esse imbuī imbūtum esse imbūtum īrī
participles imbuēns imbūtūrus imbūtus imbuendus
verbal nouns gerund supine
genitive dative accusative ablative accusative ablative
imbuendī imbuendō imbuendum imbuendō imbūtum imbūtū

Descendants

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  • Catalan: imbuir
  • English: imbue
  • Galician: imbuír
  • Portuguese: imbuir
  • Spanish: imbuir

References

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  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “imbuō, -ere”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 299

Further reading

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  • imbuo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • imbuo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • imbuo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to be imbibing false opinions: opinionibus falsis imbui
    • to receive the first elements of a liberal education: primis litterarum elementis imbui
    • to inspire with religious feeling, with the fear of God: imbuere (vid. sect. VII. 7, note imbuere...) pectora religione

Portuguese

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Verb

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imbuo

  1. first-person singular present indicative of imbuir