"recently or just begun," 1530s, from Latin inchoatus, past participle of inchoare, alteration of incohare "commence, begin," probably originally "to hitch up," traditionally derived from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + a verb from cohum "strap (fastened to the oxen's yoke)," a word of obscure origin. De Vaan says that as, incohere "is a frequent verb, ... its meaning can easily have derived from 'to yoke a plough to a team of oxen' ..., in other words, 'to start work.' Thus, there might be a core of truth in the ancient connection of cohum with a yoke."