fraudulentus

Forms

fraudulentus (feminine fraudulenta, neuter fraudulentum, adverb fraudulenter); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fraus (“deceit, fraud”) + -ulentus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces fraus to Proto-Italic *frawV- and, with a query, to Proto-Indo-European *dʰrou-V́-d(ʰ)-; he rejects the derivations from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreugʰ- (“to deceive”) as resting on ad hoc assumptions.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.^[4][5][6] In the Rudens a speaker asks whether anyone has seen a bald, snub-nosed old man, a cheat (fraudulentum),^[7] and the Captivi has the superlative: from the best of men they become the worst and most deceitful.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Cicero calls the Carthaginians deceitful and lying in the speeches on the agrarian law,^[7][9] and in the De officiis uses it of fraudulent sales.^[7][8] Horace has it of a leader, Gellius of cunning,^[3] and Pliny the Elder calls magic the most fraudulent of the arts.^[9] The comparative appears first in Tertullian.^[8]

In Medieval Latin it was used of people, the devil among them, and of things: forged or false, deceptively like, lying, and in a milder sense sly or shrewd;^[10] it is spelled also with ⟨-dol-⟩.^[10] In Britain Aldhelm and Bede use it,^[11] also as a noun for a dishonest person.^[11] Italian has it as fraudolento.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a cheat.^[7][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the Carthaginians and of fraudulent sales.^[7][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder calls magic the most fraudulent of arts.^[9][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses the comparative.^[8][6]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of deceitful enticements.^[11][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dishonest, deceitful, fraudulent.^[2][7]
2. (of things) Fraudulent, false.^[8][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) Sly, shrewd.^[10]
4. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) A dishonest person.^[11]

Word family

• fraudulentia
• fraudulenter

Related words

• fraus
• fraudō
• English fraudulent

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b c d 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