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ignoratio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word ignoratio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (ignōrō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ignoro
French ignorer
English ignore
Latin ignoratio

Forms

ignōrātiō f (genitive ignōrātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ignōrō (“not to know”) + -tiō.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero on,[3] who in the Republic has people afraid because they did not know the places.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is lack of knowledge, ignorance,[2][4] frequent in Cicero and rare in other writers.[4] Cicero speaks of ignorance of one's family and birth, of dialectic, of causes, of the law, of the truth and of oneself.[4] Curtius has ignorance of a king never seen before, and the Digest ignorance of a fact.[4] It renders Ancient Greek ἄγνοια (ágnoia, “ignorance”) in the Latin version of Didymus.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of ignorance of places.[4][3][5]
  • 1st century AD – Curtius of an unknown king.[4]
  • 533 AD – The Digest of ignorance of a fact.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Lack of knowledge, ignorance.[2][4][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Ignoratio.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/ignoratio. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·