digne

Forms

dignē (comparative dignius, superlative dignissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dignus (“worthy”) + -ē, the adverb of the adjective.^[2][3] De Vaan traces dignus to Proto-Italic *dek-no- (“worthy”) and Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-no-, from the same root as decet (“it is fitting”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Miles gloriosus: how becomingly she walks, not like a courtesan.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides “becomingly”, Plautus uses it in the Casina for “as is fitting, rightly”, of cooks who see to it that the old man gets no dinner, and Cicero of a wrong that no law could avenge as it deserved.^[5] The TLL finds the comparative from Horace and the superlative from Tertullian.^[5] An inscription spells it ⟨dicne⟩.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of walking becomingly.^[5][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of avenging a wrong as it deserved.^[5][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace, the first comparative.^[5][3]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian, the first superlative.^[5][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In a fitting manner, appropriately, worthily, becomingly.^[2][6][1][5]
2. As is right, deservedly.^[5]

Related words

• dignus
• indignē
• decet

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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press