abiectus

Forms

abiectus (feminine abiecta, neuter abiectum; comparative abiectior, superlative abiectissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled abjectus.^[2][3]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin abiciō (“to throw away, throw down”).^[1][2][4] abiciō is a compound of iaciō (“to throw”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”) and Proto-Indo-European *(H)ieh₁- (“to throw, let go”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest quotation is from Accius, who has it beside words for crushed and lifeless.^[1][4] Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is downcast, dejected, and humble or undistinguished: Cicero speaks of a family humble and obscure called out of darkness into light.^[1] Of things it is unimportant, and of speech or language commonplace, low: Cicero says that a speaker's words were not ornate but not mean either.^[1] Morally it is base and despicable, and grovelling: Cicero asks what attendant was ever so lowly, so servile.^[1] Christian writers use it of one cast off by the world.^[6]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of a dejected man.^[1][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a humble family, of mean language and of servility.^[1][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dejected, downcast.^[1]
2. Humble, undistinguished; unimportant; of language, commonplace, low.^[1]
3. Base, mean, despicable; grovelling, servile.^[1]

Related words

• abiciō
• iaciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften