Etymologically
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derisus

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derisus1 laughable

Forms

dērīsus (feminine dērīsa, neuter dērīsum, superlative dērīsissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

The adjective “laughable” is from Latin dērīdeō (“to laugh at, mock”), its past participle.[1][2] The verb is formed from dē- and rīdeō (“to laugh”),[3] for which de Vaan finds no good Indo-European etymology.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's only example is in Varro's Menippean Satires, in the superlative: an old man whom the Latin stage saw as most ridiculous, quem senem Latīna vīdit dērīsissimum.[1]

Semantic evolution

Besides the plain participle, mocked or laughed at,[2] it was used as an adjective meaning absurd or laughable,[1][5] a rare use.[1]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses the superlative of a ridiculous old man on the stage.[1][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (participle) Mocked, laughed at.[2]
  2. Laughable, absurd.[1]

derisus2 mockery

Forms

dērīsus m (genitive dērīsūs); fourth declension[3]

Etymology

The noun “mockery” is from Latin dērīdeō (“to laugh at, mock”) + -tus, a noun of action.[1][7] The simple verb is rīdeō (“to laugh”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short think it perhaps not found before Augustus.[2] The OLD's first examples are in Valerius Maximus and Phaedrus, who says of a man that he deceives strangers but is a laughing-stock to those who know him, nōtīs est dērīsuī.[1]

Semantic evolution

It means mockery, scorn or derision, and in the dative a person or thing is dērīsuī, an object of ridicule:[1][2] Tacitus writes that a sham triumph over Germany had been a laughing-stock.[1] Quintilian remarks that derision is not far from laughter, and uses it with a genitive of the thing mocked.[1] The TLL notes that only some cases are common, the nominative and ablative singular from Seneca on and the dative and accusative from Phaedrus on.[7]

The Vulgate has the phrases in dērīsum facere, habēre and dare, to make a mockery of someone,[2] and Church Latin kept the sense of scorn and derision.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it in the dative for a laughing-stock.[1][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian discusses derision as a kind of laughter.[1][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus calls a false triumph a mockery.[1][6]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses in dērīsum for making a mockery of someone.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Mockery, scorn, derision.[1][2][8]
  2. dērīsuī esse: to be a laughing-stock.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson