dedecet

Forms

dēdecet (present infinitive dēdecēre, perfect active dēdecuit); second conjugation, third person-only, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + decet (“it is fitting”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces decet to Proto-Italic *dek-ē- (“fits, is right”) and Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-eh₁-, related to Ancient Greek δέχομαι (dékhomai, “to accept”), with a cognate in Umbrian tiçit (“ought to”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in the Orator, setting what is unbecoming against what is fitting to the time and person,^[4] and in the De officiis of avoiding whatever is unseemly.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly impersonal, “it is unbecoming”, usually with a negative and built like decet: Horace says the myrtle does not misbecome a servant or himself drinking under the vine, and Cicero that an orator may feign anger though anger itself is unfitting.^[4][2] Ovid uses it of hair that did not misbecome its mistress, and Quintilian of the voice and of how to wear the toga.^[4] By poetic licence it can be personal and transitive, “to dishonour”: Statius has someone who has not disgraced another's orders, and Tacitus Atticus seeming to bring discredit on the images of the Claudii.^[4][2] Stelten gives “it is unseemly or unsuitable”.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, “it is unbecoming”.^[4][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace, of the myrtle that suits a servant.^[2][4][6]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius, in the first person, “dishonour”.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (usually impersonal) To be unbecoming to, unsuitable for; to be unseemly.^[2][4][1]
2. (transitive) To bring disgrace on, dishonour.^[2][4]

Related words

• decet
• dēdecus
• dēdecōrus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de