Etymologically
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honorificus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [hɔ.noːˈrɪ.fɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [o.noˈriː.fi.kus][1]

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

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