impulsus

Latin

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of impellō (“push, drive”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /imˈpul.sus/, [ɪmˈpʊɫ̪s̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /imˈpul.sus/, [imˈpulsus]

Participle

impulsus (feminine impulsa, neuter impulsum); first/second-declension participle

1. pushed, driven, assailed, having been pushed or driven.
2. urged on, incited, impelled, having been urged on.
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.1:

     Hac impulsi occasione

     Incited by this opportunity

3. overthrown, subdued, having been overthrown.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	impulsus	impulsa	impulsum		impulsī	impulsae	impulsa
Genitive	impulsī	impulsae	impulsī		impulsōrum	impulsārum	impulsōrum
Dative	impulsō		impulsō		impulsīs
Accusative	impulsum	impulsam	impulsum		impulsōs	impulsās	impulsa
Ablative	impulsō	impulsā	impulsō		impulsīs
Vocative	impulse	impulsa	impulsum		impulsī	impulsae	impulsa

Derived terms

• impulsiō

Noun

impulsus m (genitive impulsūs); fourth declension

1. shock, impact, impulse
2. incitement

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	impulsus	impulsūs
Genitive	impulsūs	impulsuum
Dative	impulsuī	impulsibus
Accusative	impulsum	impulsūs
Ablative	impulsū	impulsibus
Vocative	impulsus	impulsūs

Descendants

• Catalan: impuls
• → English: impulse
• → German: Impuls
• Italian: impulso
• Portuguese: impulso
• Romanian: impuls
• → Russian: и́мпульс (ímpulʹs)
• Spanish: impulso
• → Swedish: impuls

References

• “impulsus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “impulsus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• impulsus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• impulsus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • in a transport of rage: furore incensus, abreptus, impulsus