I quote Etymonline on impute (v.):

early 15c., from Old French imputer, emputer (14c.)
and directly from Latin imputare "to reckon, make account of, charge, ascribe,"
from assimilated form of in- "in, into" (from PIE root *en "in")(2)) +
putare "to trim, prune; reckon, clear up, settle (an account)," from PIE *puto- "cut, struck," suffixed form of root *pau- (2) "to cut, strike, stamp" (see pave).

1. Please see the title overhead, which is my first question. How does putare's semantic field appertain to the meaning of "to attribute, credit to"?

2. To wit, how did the prefix in- transmogrify "trim, prune; reckon, clear up" into "attribute, credit to'?

3. What exactly does the prefix 'in-' in imputare mean?

posted over 3 years ago

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3y ago

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