diffidens

Forms

diffīdens (genitive diffīdentis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1] The comparative diffīdentior is attested.^[2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin diffīdō (“to lack confidence, despair”).^[1][2] The verb is formed from dis- and fīdō (“to trust”),^[1] which goes back to Proto-Italic *feiþe- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeidʰ-e/o- (“to trust”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Georges and Köbler record the adjective in Plautus and Sallust,^[4][5] meaning “distrustful”; the OLD's citation is Suetonius' Life of Claudius, who was “nothing so much as timid and distrustful”.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It means lacking confidence, whether in others or in oneself, and so diffident and anxious.^[1][2] Glossaries render it with Greek words for “disobedient, not believing” and “not trusting”.^[6]

Italian diffidente continues it.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it, according to Georges and Köbler.^[4][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it.^[4][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, in his Life of Claudius, calls him timid and distrustful.^[1][2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. distrustful, lacking in confidence.^[1][4]
2. Without self-confidence, diffident, anxious.^[2]

Word family

• diffīdenter

Related words

• fidēs¹
• English diffident

Usage notes

The adverb diffīdenter, “without self-confidence”, is very rare: Cicero uses it at the start of the Pro Cluentio, and Livy and Ammianus Marcellinus have it too.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier