Etymologically
Log in

alieno

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 14:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [a.liˈeː.noː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [a.liˈɛː.no][1]

Forms

aliēnō (present infinitive aliēnāre, perfect active aliēnāvī, supine aliēnātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from aliēnus “belonging to another” with the verb suffix -ō.[2][1][3][4] The TLL notes it is lacking in the poets except the comic ones and Claudian.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of transferring property and of changing someone's identity, as Sosia's in the Amphitruo.[2][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to transfer property to another, give up, alienate, in the passive of places to fall into the enemy's hands, and in Terence to give a child in adoption.[2] From Plautus it meant to change the nature of, and in Pliny the Elder to be different.[2] In Livy it meant to deprive of feeling, in Celsus of parts of the body to become numb or mortified, and in Caesar to drive mad.[2] In Cicero it meant to estrange, make hostile, and to disgust, and in Sallust to treat as an enemy.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to estrange, alienate.[7] It survives in Portuguese alhear, and its participle gave English alienate in the 1510s, “to transfer to another's ownership”.[1][4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of transferring property.[2][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of driving mad.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of estranging.[2][6]
  • 1510s – English alienate is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To transfer (property), alienate; to lose to the enemy; to give in adoption.[2]
  2. To change the nature of; to be different.[2]
  3. To deprive of feeling; to become numb.[2]
  4. To drive mad.[2]
  5. To estrange; to disgust.[2]

Word family

  • abaliēnō
  • aliēnātiō
  • inaliēnātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson