Etymologically
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abnormis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 19:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [abˈnoːr.mɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [abˈnɔr.mis][1]

Forms

abnōrmis (neuter abnōrme); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + norma (“carpenter's square, rule”) + -is.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Horace,[3] who calls Ofellus a rustic abnormis sapiens, “wise outside the schools”: a man of sense who belonged to no school of philosophy.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Horace's phrase is the only Classical use the TLL records.[5] The OLD takes it as belonging to no philosophical school,[2] L&S more generally as departing from a rule, irregular, comparing Cicero's phrase about people wise by the norma of the philosophers,[4] and the scholiast on Horace explains it as learned beyond the rule of philosophy.[5] The glossaries render it with Greek árythmos and with innumerabilis.[6]

Medieval Latin used it for what departs from the rule, and for what is perverse or immoderate.[7] Stelten gives the Church Latin senses unconventional, abnormal and irregular.[8]

Timeline

  • 65–8 BC – Horace calls Ofellus abnormis sapiens.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Belonging to no school of philosophy; following no set rule.[2][4]
  2. (Late Latin) Departing from a rule, irregular, abnormal.[1][8]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Perverse; immoderate.[7]

Word family

  • abnormitās

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson