Etymologically
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facinorosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [fa.kɪ.nɔˈroː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fa.t͡ʃi.noˈrɔː.s̬us][1]

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]
  • 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