The opening lines of chapter 2 of Tertullian's On Baptism reads as follows in the Schaff set:
Well,
but how great is the force of perversity for so shaking the faith or entirely
preventing its reception, that it impugns it on the very principles of which
the faith consists! There is absolutely nothing which makes men’s minds more
obdurate than the simplicity of the divine works which are visible in the act,
when compared with the grandeur which is promised thereto in the effect; so
that from the very fact, that with so great simplicity, without pomp, without
any considerable novelty of preparation, finally, without expense, a man
is dipped in water, and amid the utterance of some few words, is sprinkled,
and then rises again, not much (or not at all) the cleaner, the consequent
attainment of eternity is esteemed the more incredible. (ANF 3:669)
Commenting on the use of “sprinkled,”
Stander and Louw noted that
.
. . the Latin word tinctus (from tingo) never means ‘to scatter a
liquid in small drops’ (that is, ‘to sprinkle’ but rather ‘to imbue with a
liquid’, that is, ‘to make thoroughly wet’. From the whole context it is clear
that the candidate was probably immersed or at least properly wetted. (Hendrick
F. Stander and Johannes P. Louw, Baptism in the Early Church [rev ed.;
Leeds: Reformation Today Trust, 2004], 67)
Here are some entries for tinctus
and tingo in Latin lexicons I have on Logos:
Collins
Latin Dictionary Plus Grammar (Glasgow:
HarperCollins, 1997):
tingō, -gere, -xī, -ctum vt to dip, soak, to
dye, colour; (fig) to imbue.
William Whitaker, Dictionary
of Latin Forms (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2012).
tingo
ting.o V 3 1 PRES ACTIVE IND 1 S
tingo, tingere, tinxi, tinctus V (3rd) [XXXAO]
wet/moisten/dip/soak; color/dye/tinge/tint, stain
(w/blood); imbue; impregnate
tinctus
tinct.us N 4 1 NOM S M
tinct.us N 4 1 VOC S M
tinct.us N 4 1 GEN S M
tinct.us N 4 1 NOM P M
tinct.us N 4 1 VOC P M
tinct.us N 4 1 ACC P M
tinctus, tinctus N (4th)
M [XXXDX] lesser
dyeing; dipping
tinct.us VPAR 3 1 NOM S M PERF PASSIVE PPL
tingo, tingere, tinxi, tinctus V (3rd) [XXXAO]
tinguo, tinguere, tinxi, tinctus V (3rd) [XXXAO]
wet/moisten/dip/soak; color/dye/tinge/tint, stain
(w/blood); imbue; impregnate
A
Lexicon of Saint Thomas Aquinas Based on the Summa Theologica and Selected
Passages of His Other Works (Baltimore,
MD: Catholic University of America Press, 1948):
tingo, ere, nxi, nctum, 3, v. a.,
(1) lit., to dip, wet, moisten, bathe
or sprinkle with or in any liquid, (2) in
partic., to soak in color, to dye, color, tinge,
(3) fig., to soak. — (1), et solo morsu bibit,
omnem cibum aqua tingens, PS. Q. 102. Art. 6 ad 1; ac deinde ad hoc ventum est,
ubi secundum narrationem Ioannis Dominus per buccellam tinctam atque porrectam
suum exprimit proditorem, PT. Q. 81. Art. 2 ad 3. Cf. PS. Q. 102. Art. 5
(passim); PT. Q. 83. Art. 5. — (2), ecclesiae mos obtinuit ut sacrificium
altaris non in serico, neque in panno tincto, sed in lino terreno celebretur,
sicut corpus Domini est in sindone munda sepultum, PT. Q. 51. Art. 2 ad 3, in
quot. Cf. PS. Q. 102. Art. 4 (ter); PS. Q. 102. Art. 5 (passim); PT. Q. 81.
Art. 2; PT. Q. 83. Art. 3. — (3), et significat eos qui nihil ad alterius
arbitrium facere volunt. sed solum quod fuerit tinctum aqua propriae
voluntatis, PS. Q. 102. Art. 6 ad 1.
