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immeritus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word immeritus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (mereō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin meritus
Latin immeritus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪmˈmɛ.rɪ.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [imˈmɛː.ri.tus][1]

Forms

immeritus (feminine immerita, neuter immeritum); first/second-declension adjective[1] It is also spelled inmeritus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + meritus (“deserved, deserving”).[2][1] meritus is the participle of mereō (“to earn, deserve”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *mer-ē- (“to earn”) and, with a question mark, to *(s)mr-eh₁-; he compares Ancient Greek μείρομαι (meíromai, “to receive one's share”) and μέρος (méros, “part, share”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has the phrase immeritō meō, “without my deserving it”: a character asks why someone wants to send him to his death though he has done nothing to deserve it.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is active, of people who have not deserved what they get, guiltless: Horace tells the Roman that he will pay for the sins of his fathers though he has not deserved it.[3] It is also passive, of what is undeserved, as Livy's well-deserved thanks and glory, haud immeritam.[2] Lewis & Short find the adjective mostly in poetry and post-Augustan prose.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has immeritō meō.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it.[5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a guiltless Roman.[3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of deserved glory.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not deserving of harm, guiltless, innocent; also, not deserving of a benefit.[2][3]
  2. immeritō meō, without my deserving it.[2]
  3. Undeserved, unmerited.[2][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Immeritus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/immeritus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·