dehonesto

Forms

dehonestō (present infinitive dehonestāre, perfect active dehonestāvī, supine dehonestātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + honestō (“to honour”).^[2][1] The TLL derives it from dē and honestus (“honourable”), comparing the simple verb.^[3] De Vaan explains the adjective as formed on the stem of honōs (“honour”), for which no further etymology is known.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Livy (59 BC–AD 17), of a reputation stained and disgraced (famam maculari dehonestarique).^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

L&S find it once in Livy and otherwise only after Augustus; the TLL notes that it is missing in the poets apart from Prudentius, who scans the first syllable long.^[5][3] Tacitus has a man dishonouring his great-grandfather by infamous conduct, and Thrasea's writings disgracing his own fame;^[6][5] Justin uses it of being disgraced by a battle with so vile a people, and the Historia Augusta of dishonouring the Roman empire.^[6][5] Fronto uses the passive with in and the ablative.^[6] The TLL gives Spanish denostar as its descendant.^[3] The nouns dehonestāmentum and dehonestātiō are formed from it.^[1]

Timeline

• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of a reputation disgraced.^[5][7]
• AD 98–115 – Tacitus uses it of dishonouring an ancestor.^[5][7]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it, with a long first syllable.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dishonour, disgrace, discredit.^[2][5]

Word family

• dehonestāmentum
• dehonestātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de