confidens

Forms

cōnfīdēns (genitive cōnfīdentis, comparative cōnfīdentior, superlative cōnfīdentissimus); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin cōnfīdō (“to trust, be confident”).^[1][3][4] That verb is a compound of con- and fīdō (“to trust”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *feiþe- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeidʰ-e/o- (“to trust”); it is cognate with Ancient Greek πείθομαι (peíthomai, “to be convinced, obey”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Plautus.^[4] The OLD's first quotation is quī mē alter est audācior homō aut quī cōnfīdentior?, “what other man is bolder or more self-assured than I?”.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short say that the good sense, bold, undaunted, is perhaps only ante-classical: Plautus says an innocent slave should be cōnfīdēns, and Terence has cōnfīdēns, catus, “bold, shrewd”.^[6][1] More often it is bad, overconfident or impudent: Plautus has nihil hōc cōnfīdentius, “nothing more brazen than this”, Terence calls a parasite homō cōnfīdēns, and Lucilius has improbus, cōnfīdēns, nēquam.^[1][6] Virgil has the superlative in iuvenum cōnfīdentissime, “most presumptuous of young men”.^[6][2] Of actions it means bold, daring, as in Cicero's cōnfīdēns astūtia.^[1] Köbler lists medieval sources, among them Marculf's formulary, and a medieval noun, “one who trusts”, in Freising charters of 829.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in good and bad senses.^[1][6][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of an old man and of a parasite.^[1][6][4]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it among terms of abuse.^[1][6][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero says it is counted a fault.^[6][2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the superlative.^[6][2][4]
• 829 – Freising charters use it as a noun, “one who trusts”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Confident, bold, self-assured.^[1][6][3]
2. Overconfident, presumptuous, impudent.^[1][6][2]
3. (of actions) Bold, daring.^[1]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) One who trusts.^[4]

Word family

• cōnfīdenter

Related words

• cōnfīdō
• cōnfīdentia
• fīdēns
• fīdō

Usage notes

Cicero, in the Tusculan Disputations, says that the brave man should be called fīdēns, since cōnfīdēns, by a bad habit of speech, is counted a fault, although it comes from cōnfīdere, which is praiseworthy.^[6][2] The adverb is cōnfīdenter.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press