Etymologically
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dedecus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdeː.dɛ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.de.kus][1]

Forms

dēdecus n (genitive dēdecoris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- (“down from, away”) + decus (“honour, dignity”).[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it with decus among the derivatives of decet (“it is fitting”), from Proto-Italic *dek-ē- (“fits, is right”) and Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to take, receive”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[4][3] who has advorsārī sine dēdecore … haud possumus, “we cannot oppose it without disgrace”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Dēdecus is discredit, disgrace, dishonour, shame, and in the plural instances of disgrace.[2][5] It is also a person or thing that brings shame (Tacitus: a disgrace to his ancestors), a shameful act or vice, and a shameful or ugly appearance (Ovid, of the ass's ears of Midas).[2][6][1]

Church Latin glosses it “shame, dishonor, disgrace, vice”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: sine dēdecore.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it often.[5][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the ears of Midas.[2][3]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus: maiōribus suīs dēdecus.[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. disgrace, dishonour, shame, infamy.[2][5][1][7]
  2. A cause of shame, a disgrace, blot.[1][6]
  3. A shameful act, vice.[1][7]
  4. An ugly, shameful appearance.[2]

Word family

  • dedecorosus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson