flagitium

Forms

flāgitium n (genitive flāgitiī or flāgitī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin flāgitō (“to demand insistently”) + -ium, apparently a noun “importunate demand” made from that verb.^[2][1] De Vaan takes flāgitō as an iterative of an unattested verb ⟨*flāgere⟩ “to whip”, from Proto-Italic *flāg-e/o- (“to whip”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl(e)h₂g-e/o-; the sense would have run from “to whip as a punishment” to “to scold, beset with demands”, and the family would then belong with flagrum (“whip”).^[3] He compares Old Norse blaka (“to hit back and forth”) and Lithuanian blokšti (“to swing back and forth”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who also has the verb.^[3] In Plautus it seems to be a public demonstration of disapproval outside someone's house: flāgitium probrumque magnum … expergefacis, “you are rousing a great scandal and outcry”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the noisy protest it came to mean the disgrace a person incurs, “dishonour, infamy” (Plautus: tantum damnī fēcī et flāgitī, “I have caused so much loss and disgrace”), and a shocking state of affairs, “a scandal” (Terence).^[2] As a term of abuse flāgitium hominis is “a disgraceful scoundrel”.^[2] Most often it is a shameful act, an outrage, especially sexual misconduct or an offence against military discipline, and collectively outrageous conduct.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “shameful crime”.^[5] British Medieval Latin keeps the classical sense “disgrace, shame”, as in Aldhelm's flāgitium sceleris baptismī dīluit unda, “the water of baptism washed away the disgrace of sin”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a public outcry and of disgrace.^[2][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of sexual misconduct.^[2][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: nōn est flāgitium … adulēscentulum scortārī, “it is no scandal for a young man to visit prostitutes”.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A public demonstration of disapproval (outside a person's house).^[2]
2. disgrace, dishonour, infamy.^[2][1][6]
3. A scandal, a shocking state of affairs;^[2] flāgitium hominis, an infamous scoundrel.^[2]
4. A shameful act, an outrage, a crime;^[2][1][5] outrageous conduct.^[2]

Word family

• flāgitiōsus

Related words

• flāgitō
• flagrum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b 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