facinorosus

Forms

facinorōsus (feminine facinorōsa, neuter facinorōsum, comparative facinorōsior, superlative facinorōsissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1] A spelling facinerōsus is also found, and the grammarian Velius Longus preferred it.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin facinus (“deed, crime”) + -ōsus (“full of”).^[2][1] The noun is formed from faciō (“to do, make”),^[2] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *fak-i- and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *dheh1- (“to put”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[5] who in the Catilinarians names a class made up of parricides, assassins and “omnium facinorosorum”, all criminals.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Classical writers used it of people and of their lives and minds as criminal or wicked,^[2][6] and as a plural noun, facinorōsī, for criminals.^[7] L&S call it rare but classical; the superlative appears in Cicero and the comparative in Justin.^[6] Augustine formed the adverb facinorōsē.^[6]

Medieval writers kept the word for wicked people and acts, and British sources use it of criminals held in prison.^[8] English borrowed it in the 16th century as facinorous.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of criminals in the Catilinarians and of a wicked life in the De legibus.^[6][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has the superlative in 2 Maccabees.^[6][5]
• Middle Ages – Bede and later British writers use it of wicked people and acts.^[8]
• 1540s – English borrows it as facinorous.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Criminal, wicked, villainous.^[2][6][7]

Noun

1. (plural) Criminals, wicked people.^[7][8]

Related words

• English facinorous

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com