honorificus

Forms

honōrificus (feminine honōrifica, neuter honōrificum, superlative honōrificentissimus, adverb honōrificē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin honor (“honour”) + -ficus (“making, doing”), from the root of faciō (“to make, do”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds no etymology for honōs beyond a root ⟨*ǵhon-⟩ or ⟨*ghon-⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,^[5] including the comparative and superlative.^[3] He says that someone never mentioned him except in honourable terms.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is “conferring or showing honour”.^[2] Cicero speaks of the most honourable distinctions he had given someone, of a speech that honoured its subject, and of a consul who was both respectful to him and a pleasant friend.^[6][2] Nepos has the comparative, and Velleius tells how Clodius removed Cato from Rome under the most honourable title of a mission.^[6] Quintilian reports that Domitius Marsus divided serious sayings into honorific, insulting and neutral.^[6] Church Latin has “honourable, honorary, respected”.^[7] English honorific came from it in the 1640s, through French or directly.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of honourable mention and honourable distinctions.^[6][2][3][5]
• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos has the comparative.^[6][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of honorific sayings.^[6][5]
• 1640s – English honorific.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Conferring or showing honour, honorific, honourable.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Of persons, showing respect to someone.^[2]

Word family

• inhonōrificus
• perhonōrificus

Related words

• honor
• honōrō
• honestus
• faciō
• English honorific

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 c 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com