honestum

Forms

honestum n (genitive honestī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of honestus (“honourable”), used as a noun, and translates Ancient Greek τὸ καλόν (tò kalón, “the noble, the beautiful”).^[2] The adjective is formed from an old neuter ⟨*honos⟩ (genitive ⟨*honeris⟩), beside honor, as decus stands beside decor; de Vaan sets it up as ⟨*hones-to-⟩.^[2][3] He notes that ⟨hon-⟩ can only go back to ⟨*ǵʰon-⟩ or ⟨*gʰon-⟩, but no further etymology is known.^[3] Varro derived ⟨honōs⟩ from ⟨onus⟩ “burden”, so that the honourable was what is laden.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it from Cicero on, who uses it for the Stoic “honourable”.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero honestum is moral goodness, virtue, rectitude: it is either virtue itself or what is done by virtue, and for the Stoics the only good; he speaks of seeing “the very form and as it were the face of the honourable”, and asks what could be more honourable than the honourable.^[6][2] The plural honesta are honourable things, opposed to turpia (Cicero, Quintilian).^[6] Lucan calls Cato rigidī servātor honestī, “keeper of stern virtue”, and Tacitus has the saying honesta mors turpī vītā potior, “an honourable death is better than a shameful life”.^[6] Once in Horace it means beauty.^[6]

Köbler records it in medieval writers such as Wipo, the Ysengrimus and Albertus Magnus,^[5] and Wiktionary glosses it “honesty”.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero's philosophical works.^[2][6][5]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan of Cato, rigidī servātor honestī.^[6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus: honesta mors turpī vītā potior.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. That which is morally honourable; virtue, rectitude, integrity.^[2][6]
2. (plural) Honourable things.^[6]
3. (rare) Beauty.^[6]
4. honesty.^[1]

Related words

• honestus
• honōs
• honestās

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press