How can the Latin prefix 'in-' possibly befit imputare?

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).

Why does Latin use the prefix in- — when the second meaning of imputare is "to attribute, credit to" that obviously features the English 'to'???

Note that Latin did compound ad- to putō in apputō ← ad- (ap) (“to, toward”) +‎ putō (“regard, judge”). But apputō wasn't lexicalized in English.

posted over 3 years ago

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3y ago

PSTH‭

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