contemptio

Forms

contemptiō f (genitive contemptiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled contemtiō.^[2][3] The plural is not found.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin contemnō (“to despise, scorn”) + -tiō.^[2][1][4] De Vaan takes contemnō as older than the simple temnō, which was back-formed from it; its origin is disputed, between a root meaning “to shake, pound” and Proto-Indo-European *tm-n(e)-h₁- (“to cut”), the root of Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero on,^[4] and the Rhetorica speaks of contempt for humble things and of bringing opponents into hatred and contempt.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of despising, scorn, and the state of being despised.^[2] It is also disregard: the Rhetorica ad Herennium defines courage as disregard of toil and danger, and Cicero calls fortitude a disregard of pains and toils.^[2][3] Cicero speaks of contempt and disdain for all human things.^[3] The TLL finds it in Caesar, Livy, Seneca, Curtius, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, Gellius, Apuleius and the Vulgate.^[4] Glosses render it with Ancient Greek καταφρόνησις (kataphrónēsis, “contempt”).^[4] Church Latin glosses it contempt.^[6]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of scorn and of courage.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of fortitude and of contempt for human things.^[3][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar.^[4][7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate.^[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Contempt, scorn, disdain; the state of being despised.^[2][3][1][6]
2. Disregard, paying no heed (to toil, danger or pain).^[2][3]

Related words

• contemnō

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de