Etymologically
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dedecet

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdeː.dɛ.kɛt][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.de.t͡ʃet][1]

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]

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