Etymologically
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effrenatus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛf.freːˈnaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ef.freˈnaː.tus][1]

Forms

effrēnātus (feminine effrēnāta, neuter effrēnātum, adverb effrēnātē); first/second-declension adjective[1] It is also spelled ecfrēnātus.[2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin effrēnō (“to unbridle”),[2][1][3] a verb made from ex- and frēnum (“bridle”).[4] De Vaan traces frēnum to Proto-Italic *frēno- and, tentatively, to Proto-Indo-European *dʰr-eh₁-no- (“holding”), connecting it with frētus (“relying on”);[5] Ernout and Meillet's link with frendō (“to gnash”), as what horses chew on, he finds possible but less straightforward.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Accius,[5] who writes of unbridled shamelessness.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It means unrestrained, violent, unbridled, of people and their character and, transferred, of feelings.[2] Cicero calls an orator unrestrained and too sharp, writes of men made unruly by success and of unbridled frenzy, and Livy of the lust of Appius Claudius growing more unbridled.[2] Church Latin glosses it unbridled, ungoverned, unruly.[6] Wiktionary gives the adverb ⟨effrēnātē⟩.[1]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of unbridled shamelessness.[2][5][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of an unrestrained orator and of frenzy.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of unbridled lust.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of people or their character, unrestrained, unbridled, unruly.[2][6][1]
  2. Of feelings, violent, uncontrolled.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson