Etymologically
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frivolus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfriː.wɔ.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfriː.vo.lus][1]

Forms

frīvolus (feminine frīvola, neuter frīvolum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin friō (“to rub away, crumble”) with the diminutive suffix -olus,[2][3] as the TLL also suggests.[4] L&S calls the etymology doubtful and thinks of fricō (“to rub”).[5] De Vaan takes it, with ⟨refrīvus⟩ “shredded”, to continue an adjective Proto-Italic *frīwo-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰriH-wo- (“cut”); he compares Old Irish brieid (“to hurt, damage”).[6]

Festus explained the neuter plural as properly meaning cracked earthenware, whence statements that deserve little trust.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, of a silly and ungentlemanly way of speaking;[2][5] de Vaan dates it from Phaedrus.[6] Plautus had already written a comedy called Frīvolāria.[6]

Semantic evolution

It first described things of little value; as a noun, the neuter plural frīvola meant paltry household goods and trifles.[2][5] More often it was used figuratively for what is worthless, trifling or silly: arguments, jokes, omens, labour, and people who behave foolishly.[2][5] L&S notes that it is mostly post-Augustan and perhaps absent from Cicero.[5] Jerome has the adverb frīvolē.[5]

Isidore of Seville uses frīvolum for a separation of a married couple who mean to come back together.[7][4] English frivolous is from the Latin word (mid-15th century).[3]

Timeline

  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus speaks of a frīvola īnsolentia.[2][8]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca calls labour frīvolus et supervacuus.[2][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a joke.[2][8]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a person who acts foolishly.[2][8]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses frīvolum of a separation of spouses.[4][8]
  • mid-15th century – English frivolous is formed from it.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of little or no value, worthless, trashy.[2][5]
  2. (figurative) Insignificant, trifling, silly, empty, frivolous.[2][5]

Noun

  1. frīvola (neuter plural) Paltry possessions, household goods; trifles.[2][5]
  2. frīvolum (Late Latin, law) A separation of spouses who intend to return to each other.[4]
  • friō
  • English frivolous

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de