enervatus

Forms

ēnervātus (feminine ēnervāta, neuter ēnervātum, comparative ēnervātior); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēnervō (“to weaken, enfeeble”), its perfect participle used as an adjective.^[1][3][4] The OLD equates it with ēnervis (“without sinews, feeble”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[4] who in the Tusculan Disputations calls an opinion ēnervāta muliebrisque, feeble and womanish.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant weak, unmanly or effeminate, of people and of speech,^[5][6] as in Cicero's mollis et ēnervāta ōrātiō;^[5] Livy uses it of a state that had lost its strength,^[5] and Gellius of a life without vigour.^[5]

Late writers used it of castrated men: Claudian has it for a eunuch,^[7][5] and the Epitome de Caesaribus uses ēnervātī for debauched men and eunuchs.^[5][7][2] Boethius has the comparative ēnervātius.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a feeble opinion and of slack speech.^[2][5][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a state.^[5][4]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a life.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Enervated, weak, feeble.^[1][5][7]
2. Unmanly, effeminate (of people or speech).^[5][2][6]
3. (Late Latin, as a noun) A eunuch;^[7][5][2] (plural) debauched men and eunuchs.^[7][5][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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 e f g h i j k l m n o Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
7. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.