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devius

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word devius

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*wih₁-eh₂-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin via
English via
English trivia
French voie
Latin viator
Latin devius
Latin invius
Latin avius
Latin trivium
Latin trivialis
English trivial
Latin praevius
English previous

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdeː.wi.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.vi.us][1]

Forms

dēvius (feminine dēvia, neuter dēvium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + via (“road”) + -us.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces via to Proto-Italic *wijā- (“road”) and Proto-Indo-European *wih₁-eh₂- (“pursuit”), comparing Oscan víú (“road”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero, who asks a man whether he fled to the out-of-the-way town of Beroea.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

It is out of the way, remote, and of people secluded: Cicero says the people of Anagnia lived off the main road.[2] Livy uses the neuter plural for remote places, and once has a door that was most out of the way.[2][3] It is also wandering off the road: Horace has the she-goats, "wives of a smelly husband", straying in search of thyme.[2] Of a person or conduct it is erratic, inconstant: Cicero calls a man headlong and erratic in all his plans.[2] Church Latin glosses it devious, wandering from the way.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a remote town and of an erratic man.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of straying goats.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of remote places.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Out of the way, remote; living in seclusion;[2][7][1] dēvia, remote places.[2][7][1]
  2. Wandering off the road, straying.[2][6]
  3. Of persons or conduct, erratic, inconstant; erroneous, devious.[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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Devius.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/devius. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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