immodestus

Forms

immodestus (feminine immodesta, neuter immodestum, adverb immodestē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in-² (“not”) + modestus (“restrained”).^[2][3][4][1] De Vaan lists it and its base among the derivatives of modus (“measure”); he derives the base from the s-stem that goes back to Proto-Italic *medos- (“measure, judgement”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o/es- (“measure”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on:^[5] in the Curculio it describes unrestrained ways (mōrēs).^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It was rare but classical.^[7] It described conduct without restraint, as Cicero's kind of joking that should be neither unbounded nor immodestum, or an extravagant largess in Seneca the Elder;^[3][7] applied to people it meant unruly or impudent, as Terence's man in his cups and the partisans of actors in Tacitus.^[3][7] Cyprian opposes it to moderātus.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of unrestrained ways.^[5][3][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a person who drinks without restraint.^[3][6][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a kind of joking.^[3][8]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the unruly partisans of actors.^[3][7][8]
• beginning of the 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian contrasts it with moderātus.^[3][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Unrestrained, immoderate, excessive.^[2][7]
2. Lacking restraint in conduct, licentious, impudent.^[2][3]

Word family

• immodestia

Related words

• modestus
• modus

Usage notes

Lewis & Short give immoderātus as a synonym.^[7] The adverb immodestē means immoderately or impudently.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de