Etymologically
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enervatus

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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.