ignave

Forms

ignāvē (comparative ignāvius); adverb^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ignāvus (“lazy, spiritless”) + -ē.^[1][3][4] Wiktionary analyses the adjective as in- (“not”) and gnāvus (“busy, diligent”).^[5] Georges also records a by-form ⟨ignāviter⟩.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Cicero,^[7][8] who in the Tusculan Disputations urges that nothing be done timidly or in a cowardly way, nē quid timidē, nē quid ignāvē.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Its senses follow those of the adjective: done without energy or spirit, sluggishly, and, of conduct in danger, in a cowardly way.^[1][6][9] Horace applies it to style, of saying many things feebly,^[7][6] and Virgil has the comparative, of cropping the tips of the grass more listlessly.^[6][2] Seneca uses it of men who died like women and without resistance.^[10] The form ignāviter appears in a fragment of Lucilius and in a letter of Hirtius to Cicero.^[6]

Medieval writers kept the classical meaning: in Britain William of Malmesbury and John of Salisbury use it for feebly or without spirit,^[11] and in Hungary it is glossed as timidly.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses the by-form ignāviter.^[6][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero warns against acting in a cowardly way.^[6][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the comparative ignāvius.^[6][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a feeble poetic style.^[7][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Sluggishly, without energy or spirit, feebly.^[1][2][8]
2. In a cowardly way.^[6][8][3]

Related words

• ignāvia

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
11. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
12. ^ Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE