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audens

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word audens

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin (avidus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin audeo
Latin audens
Latin audenter
Latin audax
Latin audacter
Latin audacia

Forms

audēns (genitive audentis); comparative audentior, superlative audentissimus; third-declension one-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin audeō (“to dare”).[1][2][3] De Vaan derives audeō from avidus (“greedy”): it first meant to want very much, as Plautus' sōdēs (“if you please”) (from ⟨sī audēs⟩) still shows, and then came to mean to dare.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Lewis & Short find it first in Virgil, whose tū nē cēde malīs, sed contrā audentior ītō means “do not yield to troubles, but go against them more boldly”.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means daring, bold or courageous, mostly in a good sense, and Lewis & Short find it chiefly in poetry and post-Augustan prose.[2][1] Ovid has the saying that the god himself helps the bold (audentēs deus ipse iuvat).[2] Tacitus uses it several times, with the superlative audentissimus.[2] Quintilian applies it to a bold, free style of speaking.[1] The adverb audenter appears in the Vulgate and the comparative audentius in Tacitus.[2]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of going boldly against misfortune.[2][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, “the god himself helps the bold”.[2][3]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus has the superlative.[2][3]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of a daring style.[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Daring, bold, courageous.[1][2]
  2. Of style or speech, bold, free in expression.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Audens.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/audens. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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