iactans

Forms

iactāns (genitive iactantis, adverb iactanter); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin iactō (“to throw; to boast”).^[2][1][3] That verb is formed from iaciō (“to throw”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”) further back to Indo-European.^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, let go, throw”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is its first author:^[4] in a fragment of his letters it stands beside insolēns and arrogāns.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Usually it meant boastful in a bad sense, with or without a genitive: Quintilian describes a pompous man full of himself, suī iactāns, as a hawker of eloquence.^[6][7] Virgil, Horace and Pliny the Younger use the comparative iactantior, too boastful, and Pliny speaks of boastful and vainglorious letters.^[6][8] The Historia Augusta has the superlative of a most ostentatious lover of the common people.^[6][8] In a good sense it meant proud or exultant, as in Statius of Rome and in Claudian of a court.^[6][2]

Church Latin kept the sense “boastful, vainglorious”,^[9] and Old High German glosses render it with words for boasting.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in a letter beside insolēns and arrogāns.^[6][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the comparative.^[6][7][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses the comparative.^[6][8][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it with a genitive.^[6][4]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it in a good sense, of Rome.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Boastful, arrogant, vainglorious.^[2][6][9]
2. Exultant, proud.^[2][6][7]

Word family

• iactanter

Related words

• iactantia
• iaciō

Usage notes

It is also the ordinary present participle of iactō, “throwing, tossing”.^[8][7] Lewis and Short and Gaffiot spell it jactāns.^[10][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press