Etymologically
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confidens

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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

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