Etymologically
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contemptio

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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]

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