immo
Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
May be for *ipsimō, from ipse. Otherwise the ablative singular of īmus with unexpected geminate /mm/, or conflated therewith.
Some comparativists, including Götze & Pedersen (1934) and more recently Kimball (1999) and Kloekhorst (2008), have compared Hittite 𒅎𒈠 (im-ma, “truly, really, indeed”) and Luwian 𒅎𒈠 (im-ma), hieroglyphic [script needed] (ima, “indeed”). The details of this connection are unclear at best, but if valid it would point to common inheritance from Proto-Indo-European. E.g., Kimball suggests to reconstruct *im-moh₂, comparing the second element with Ancient Greek μᾰ́ (má). A major problem with this etymology is that the preservation of the geminate /mm/ all the way from PIE to Classical Latin is an unknown phenomenon.
Adverb
immō (not comparable)
Descendants
- Sardinian: emmo
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “immō”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 300
- Götze, Albrecht & Pedersen, Holger (1934) Muršilis Sprachlächmung (= Danske Vidensk. Selskab, hist.-filol. Meddelelser 21/1), København.
- Kimball, Sara E. (1999) Hittite Historical Phonology. Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft.
- Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008) “imma”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 5), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 384
Further reading
- “immo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “immo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- immo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.