Etymologically
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immodestus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪm.mɔˈdɛs.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [im.moˈdɛs.tus][1]

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

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