"inpert" (n.; & occasional, unrelated v.) -- not in OED

[Laurence Horn]

With garden-variety labial assimilation, that becomes "impert", which also has the advantage of appearing to be a back-formation of "impertinent".

LH

On Nov 11, 2011, at 11:05 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> A.  Noun.  A small selection, with the earliest two instances I found
> using GBooks.
>
> 1)  1961.
>
> What the world needs more of, according to Neil M. Clark, writing in
> The Freeman, is inperts. Experts, he explains, have for a long time
> been in abundant supply, but the world's inventory of inperts is
> shrinking rather than growing.  What is an inpert? Mr. Clark offers
> this illustration [concerning Edison] ... We are sure Mr. Clark would
> be the first to agree that Edison was an expert as well as an inpert. ...
>
> Allegedly The Trust bulletin: Volume 41.  American Bankers
> Association.  p. 69.  Snippet.  Harvard identifies vol. 41 as Sept.
> 1961 to June 1962.
>
> Given (2) below, I believe the "Freeman" must be the one published by
> the Foundation for Economic Education, 1950-.  Circa 1961 it was
> either biweekly or monthly.
>
> 2)  1962.
>
> The Inpert Situation.  Neil M. Clark.  [Chapter title and author]
>
> Essays on liberty: Volume 9.  (Foundation for Economic
> Education.)  p. 8.  Snippet.  I don't know whether, but certainly
> suspect that, Clark's chapter will use "inpert".  Vol. 1 is 1952, so
> vol. 9 for 1962 is plausible.
>
> 3)  1980.
>
> To quote, "An inpert, unlike an expert, hasn't been tamed and trained
> and taught how it must be done. ... (Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong might
> be considered an inpert. ...
>
> Allegedly Etc: a review of general semantics: Volume 37 (1980).  p.
> 367.  Snippet.  Vol. 1 is Aug. 1943, so vol. 37 and 1980 are consistent.
>
> 4)  2005 (2002?), when it is asserted not to exist.
>
> There are also many instances where affixes have no antonym formed
> from the morpheme paired above (expert, beautiful, but no *inpert, (*
> beautiless).
>
> Lexikologie/Lexicology: Ein Internationales Handbuch Zur Natur Und
> ... . 2005 (but the copyright says 2002).  p. 528, col.
> 1.  Preview.  (Article by Adrienne Lehrer, "Semantic relations of
> derivational affixes".)
>
>
> B.  Verb.  (I looked only for "impert <objective pronoun>".)
>
> 1)  c1440 (1878)
>
> 'Nay, god defende it,' quod Clarionas, / 'That ye shalt inpert me so
> in this case;
>
> William Aldis Wright. Generydes: a romance in seven-line stanzas.
> Edited from the Unique Paper MS. in Trinity College, Cambridge (About
> 1440 A.D.).  p. 143.   Its Glossarial Index, p. 236, claims "Inpert,
> v. to injure."
>
> 2)  ??
>
> Joel
>
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