Etymologically
Log in

dedignor

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 00:51. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈdɪŋ.nɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈdiɲ.ɲor][1]

Forms

dēdignor (present infinitive dēdignārī, perfect active dēdignātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] An active dēdignō is found in Late Latin.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + dignor (“to deem worthy”).[3][1][2] dignor is from dignus (“worthy”), which de Vaan treats under decet (“it is fitting”) and derives from Proto-Italic *dek-no- (“worthy”) and Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-no-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short think it perhaps not older than Augustus; their first quotation is from the Aeneid, of suitors that a woman has so often scorned.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short find it most frequent in Ovid.[5] It is to reject as unworthy, to scorn, with two accusatives (to scorn someone as a husband) or with an infinitive, to disdain to do something: in Ovid someone does not disdain to fall at Jupiter's knees.[3][5] The TLL records an active ⟨dēdignō⟩ in Dracontius and Gregory the Great.[2] Church Latin glosses it to scorn, disdain, refuse.[7]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of scorned suitors.[5][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, who uses it most.[5][3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To reject as unworthy, spurn, scorn; to feel contempt for.[3][5][7][1]
  2. With an infinitive, to disdain to do something.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ 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 d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson