immaculatus

Forms

immaculātus (feminine immaculāta, neuter immaculātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in-² + maculātus (“spotted, stained”),^[2][1][3] the past participle of maculō (“to stain”), from macula (“spot, blemish”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucan, in the Pharsalia, speaks of Roman soil as unstained.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word was poetic and late:^[4] after Lucan it appears in Ammianus Marcellinus and Lactantius.^[4] The Vulgate has it too,^[4] and in Christian and medieval Latin it meant pure and free from sin.^[6][7] English immaculate, from the mid-15th century, comes from a figurative use of the Latin word, “free from moral pollution”.^[3]

Timeline

• 39–65 AD – Lucan calls Roman soil unstained.^[4][5]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it.^[4][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it.^[4][5]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as immaculate.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Unstained, spotless.^[2][4]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Pure, sinless, undefiled.^[6][7]

Related words

• English immaculate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson