Etymologically
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abiectus

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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]

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