Etymologically
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dubiosus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 05:01. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dʊ.biˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [du.biˈɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

dubiōsus (feminine dubiōsa, neuter dubiōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dubius (“doubtful”) + -ōsus.[2][1][3] The TLL derives it from the noun dubium (“doubt”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aulus Gellius is its first author.[3][5] In the Attic Nights he says that Varro set apart twenty-one comedies of Plautus because they were not doubtful (quoniam dubiosae non erant),[4][6] and elsewhere that the judges thought a point doubtful and impossible to resolve.[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it post-classical;[5] the classical word was dubius.[8] In Medieval Latin it could mean “doubting, unbelieving”: Burchard of Worms says that the devil was deceitful and doubting from the beginning.[9] Du Cange records it for “dangerous” in dubiosum mare, in statutes of the fishermen of Marseille,[10] and for “doubtful” in a sermon that calls the rule of Basil rather doubtful.[10] Hungarian sources use it for rights in doubt, for a book of doubtful authority, and for a forgotten debt.[11] English took dubious from it in the 1540s,[12] and it is the source of Italian dubbioso.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it of comedies of doubtful authorship.[4][3]
  • 1435 – A Hungarian decree speaks of rights fallen in and doubtful.[11]
  • 1461 – A verse in an English register uses it.[13]
  • 1540s – English dubious is recorded.[12]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Open to doubt, doubtful, uncertain.[2][5][8][14]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Doubting, unbelieving.[9][3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Dangerous, perilous.[10]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Of doubtful authority, apocryphal; forgotten.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  11. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
  12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.