ignobilitas

Forms

ignōbilitās f (genitive ignōbilitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ignōbilis (“unknown; low-born”) + -tās.^[2][3][1] ignōbilis is in- (“not”) with nōbilis (“known, noble”),^[2] from the root of nōscō (“to get to know”); de Vaan reports Leumann's view that ⟨gnōbilis⟩ was back-formed from ⟨ignōbilis⟩, itself made from a noun ⟨*gnō-bulum⟩ “sign of recognition”.^[4] He traces nōscō to Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéh3- (“to know”).^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit जानाति (jānā́ti, “to know, recognize”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan, Köbler and the TLL record it from Lucilius,^[4][5][3] who uses it of humble birth.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means obscurity, lack of fame: Cicero speaks of people nobody names because of their obscurity, and asks whether obscurity, low station or unpopularity will stop the wise man from being happy.^[2][6][3] Pliny the Elder uses it of an artist's obscurity and Tacitus of a common soldier made safer by it.^[6][3] It also means low birth: Sallust has Jugurtha despised because on his mother's side he was not of equal birth, and Seneca the Elder people who reproached Marcus Agrippa with his humble origin.^[3] Columella uses it of the poor quality of a wine.^[3] The TLL notes that in verse it is found only in Lucilius and Ovid.^[3]

In Church Latin it is dishonour, obscurity,^[7] and in medieval Latin also meanness, baseness of character.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, of humble birth.^[2][3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of obscurity.^[2][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust, of Jugurtha's birth.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of a soldier's obscurity.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of fame, obscurity.^[2][6][1]
2. Low birth, humble origin.^[2][6][1]
3. (of things) Poor quality.^[3]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Dishonour.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) Meanness, base character.^[8]

Related words

• ignōbiliter
• nōbilitās
• nōbilis

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d 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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill