enormis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [eːˈnoːr.mɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [eˈnɔr.mis]^[1]

Forms

ēnōrmis (neuter ēnōrme); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from ex- and norma “carpenter's square, rule” with the adjective ending -is.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.^[4] Quintilian uses it of an ill-fitting toga.^[4][5] Köbler dates Quintilian c. 35–95/96 AD.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It first meant out of rule, irregular or shapeless, as Tacitus' irregular streets of old Rome and Gellius' metrically irregular verse.^[2][7] Far more often it meant abnormally large, immense, as Pliny's enormous shade of trees, Statius' huge colossus and Tacitus' huge spears and swords.^[2][7][4]

In medieval Latin it meant immoral, wicked, heinous.^[8] English enormous was formed from it in the 1530s, first meaning “abnormal”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of an ill-fitting toga.^[4][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of huge shade.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of irregular streets and huge weapons.^[7][6]
• 1530s – English enormous is formed from it.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Irregular, shapeless, (of clothes) ill-fitting, (of verse) irregular.^[2][1]
2. Enormous, immense, huge.^[2][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Wicked, heinous.^[8]

Word family

• ēnormitās
• inēnormis

Related words

• norma
• English enormous
• English enormity

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com