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despicientia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word despicientia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin dēspiciō

Forms

dēspicientia f (genitive dēspicientiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dēspiciēns + -ia, from the present participle of dēspiciō (“to look down on, despise”).[2][3][4] Bianchi and Lelli derive it from the verb directly.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero, meaning contempt or disregard for something.[2][4] Lewis and Short call it very rare and perhaps only Ciceronian;[6] Cicero speaks of contempt for all human affairs in the Tusculan Disputations and of contempt for external things in On Duties.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Partitiones oratoriae Cicero says that superbia imitates greatness of soul in exalting honours too much, and despicientia in scorning them;[3] the word thus named a kind of high-minded indifference as well as plain contempt.[2] It is usually followed by a genitive of the thing despised.[3][5]

Later the TLL records it in Ambrose's On Duties, for contempt of wealth.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of contempt for human affairs and external things.[3][4]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of contempt for wealth.[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Contempt, scorn (for something).[2][6][7]
  2. Indifference (to something).[2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
Cite this entry

“Despicientia.” Etymologically, 25 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/despicientia. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·