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diffidentia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word diffidentia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (fīdō)

Forms

diffīdentia f (genitive diffīdentiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin diffīdēns (“distrustful”) + -ia,[2][1] from the present participle of diffīdō (“to distrust”),[3][4] a compound of dis- and fīdō (“to trust”).[5] De Vaan traces fīdō to Proto-Indo-European *bheidh-e/o- (“to trust”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Köbler find it first in Cicero,[3][4] who in De inventione sets it against fīdentia, confidence: fīdentiae contrārium est diffīdentia.[7][3] It means lack of confidence, distrust.[2]

Semantic evolution

Sallust, Ovid, Quintilian, Tacitus and Suetonius use it of distrust or lack of confidence, often with a genitive of what is distrusted.[7][8] In Christian writers it is lack of faith, unbelief and disobedience,[9][7][8] and in medieval Latin also a vassal's formal renouncing of faith, a defiance of his lord.[10] English diffidence was borrowed around 1400 in the sense “distrust”.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in De inventione.[3][4]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it with a genitive.[7][4]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of lack of faith.[8][4]
  • c. 1400 – English borrows diffidence, at first meaning distrust.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Lack of confidence, diffidence; distrust.[2][7]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Want of faith, unbelief; disobedience.[9][7][10]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A vassal's renouncing of faith, defiance of a lord.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
Cite this entry

“Diffidentia.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/diffidentia. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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