damnatus

Forms

damnātus (feminine damnāta, neuter damnātum, comparative damnātior); first/second-declension adjective^[2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect passive participle from Latin damnō (“to condemn”).^[2][1] That verb comes from damnum (“loss, penalty”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *dapno- and Proto-Indo-European *dh₂p-no- (“expense, investment”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses the comparative in his speech against Piso: quis te miserior? quis te damnatior?, “who is more wretched than you, who more clearly condemned?”^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Besides “condemned, found guilty”, it came to mean reprobate or criminal, as in Cicero's line and in Publilius Syrus, and in poetry hateful or wretched: Propertius speaks of condemned hands and of hateful nights.^[6][4] Petronius has it of a depraved woman, and Silius of an accursed sight.^[4]

It also came to mean damned.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the comparative in the sense “more clearly condemned”.^[4][7]
• 1st century BC – Publilius Syrus uses it of a condemned man.^[6][7]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of hateful nights.^[6][7]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of a depraved woman.^[4][7]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Condemned, found guilty.^[2][6]
2. Reprobate, criminal, depraved.^[6][4]
3. (poetic) Hateful, wretched.^[6]
4. Damned.^[1]

Usage notes

The MLW records a rare medieval fourth-declension noun damnatus meaning “guilt”.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften