Etymologically
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adulterinus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [a.dʊɫ.tɛˈriː.nʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [a.dul.teˈriː.nus][1]

Forms

adulterīnus (feminine adulterīna, neuter adulterīnum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin adulter (“adulterous; adulterer”) + -īnus.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, adulterīna clāvis “a false key”.[2][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

Of things it meant adulterated, impure, as in Varro; of documents and coins, forged, counterfeit, as of seals in Cicero and Livy, and adulterīna clāvis a false or duplicate key; and of persons adulterous, born of adultery, as in Pliny's adulterīnō sanguine nātī, or of passions illicit, as in Apuleius.[2][5][6] Lewis & Short also cite it of animals that are not of pure breed.[5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant not genuine, bastard, adulterous.[7] Medieval Latin used it for faked, adulterated and unlawful.[8] English adulterine, French adultérine and Italian and Spanish adulterino are from it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has adulterīna clāvis.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of adulterated things.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of forged seals.[6][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of things) Adulterated, impure.[2]
  2. (of documents, coins) Forged, counterfeit, adulterīna clāvis, a false key.[2]
  3. (of persons) Adulterous; born of adultery, (of passions) illicit.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill