Etymologically
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deiectus

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deiectus1 downcast; low-lying

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈjɛk.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈjɛk.tus][1]

Forms

dēiectus (feminine dēiecta, neuter dēiectum); first/second-declension adjective[2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin dēiciō (“to throw down”).[2][3] dēiciō is dē- (“down”) with iaciō (“to throw”),[2] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”) and the aorist stem Proto-Indo-European *(H)ieh1- (“to throw, let go”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, let go, throw”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Caesar,[5] who in the Civil War has troops standing on low-lying ground: deiectis atque inferioribus locis.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of things it means hanging down, as Columella's dog with drooping ears, or low-lying, as places in Caesar and a region in Manilius.[2] Of people it is downcast or dismayed, from Virgil on;[2] Seneca has a figure weary, downcast and heavy with weeping, and Apuleius men cast down like frightened women.[2] Quintilian uses it of a subdued style in perorations, and Apuleius of a humble, low-grade office.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of low-lying ground.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of dismay.[2][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella, of a dog's drooping ears.[2][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of a humble office.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Hanging down, drooping.[2]
  2. Low-lying.[2]
  3. Downcast, dismayed.[2][3]
  4. Of style, subdued.[2]
  5. Humble, low-grade, despised.[2]

deiectus2 throwing down; slope

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈjɛk.tʊs], [deːˈjɛk.tuːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈjɛk.tus][1]

Forms

dēiectus m (genitive dēiectūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

The noun is from Latin dēiciō (“to throw down”) + -tus.[2][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Köbler record it from Caesar,[6][5] who in the Gallic War describes a hill with a slope on either side: ex utraque parte lateris deiectus habebat.[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it rare and note that Cicero does not use it.[3] Besides a slope it is the act of throwing or falling down, above all of water: Ovid has the heavy fall of the Peneus, Vitruvius the fall of rainwater into the compluvium, and Seneca the fall of a stream.[2] Livy uses it of felled trees blocking a pass,[2] and Statius, by metonymy, of a lynx skin thrown so as to hang down.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of the slope of a hill.[2][6][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of felled trees.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of the fall of a river.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A throwing or casting down; a fall, especially of water.[2][3][1]
  2. The felling (of trees).[2]
  3. A slope, declivity.[2][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften