Etymologically
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iactans

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈjak.tãːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈjak.tans][1]

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

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