From Latin 'inundare' (to overflow), from 'unda' (wave) — to flood, or figuratively, to overwhelm with excess.
Definition
To flood; to cover or submerge with water. To overwhelm with things or people to be dealt with.
The Full Story
Latin16th centurywell-attested
From Latin inundāre ("to overflow, flood"), a compound of in- ("into, upon") and undāre ("to surge in waves"), from unda ("wave, billow"). Unda derives from PIE *wed- ("water, wet"), one of the most ancient and stable roots in Indo-European, yielding: English water and wet (via Germanic *watōr), Greek ὕδωρ (hýdōr, "water" — source of hydro-), Sanskrit udán- ("water"), Old Church Slavonic voda ("water" — source of vodka, literally "little water"), Lithuanian vanduo ("water"), and Hittite wātar. The PIE root *wed- is remarkable for maintaining both its form and core meaning across virtually every daughter language for over five millennia. Latin unda represents a nasalized form of the root (*und- from *ud-n-), and undāre meant specifically "to
, treating any overwhelming quantity as a metaphorical flood. This figurative use has now largely overtaken the literal one in everyday English, though the hydraulic sense persists in technical and environmental contexts. Key roots: in- (Latin: "upon, into"), unda (Latin: "a wave"), *wed- (Proto-Indo-European: "water, wet").