Etymologically
Log in

immodicus

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word immodicus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1st century BC, Tiro
Ultimate origin
Latin (modus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin modicus
Latin modice
Latin immodicus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪmˈmɔ.dɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [imˈmɔː.di.kus][1]

Forms

immodicus (feminine immodica, neuter immodicum); first/second-declension adjective[1] It is also spelled inmodicus.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + modicus (“moderate”).[2][1][4][5] ⟨modicus⟩ is from modus (“measure”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *medo- (“measure, judgement”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o- (“measure”), cognate with Umbrian meřs (“law”) and Oscan meddíss (“magistrate”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Tiro and Nigidius Figulus,[4][5] and Lewis and Short suggest it is perhaps not found before the Augustan age.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is unrestrained, immoderate, as Livy's man of proud temper and unbridled tongue.[2] It is also excessive in size or amount: Ovid says he did not bring his misfortunes on himself by excessive wine, and complains of a winter of excessive cold.[2] Of abstract things it is extravagant, as Horace's quarrels excessive with wine, and in Martial and Juvenal very great, countless.[2] Lewis and Short call the literal sense very rare: Ovid's beak that juts out enormously.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 94 BC–5 AD – Tiro.[4][5]
  • c. 100–45 BC – Nigidius Figulus.[4][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of quarrels excessive with wine.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy of an unbridled tongue.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–AD 18 – Ovid of excessive wine and cold.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unrestrained, immoderate.[2][3][1]
  2. Excessive in size or amount; of weather, excessively severe.[2][1]
  3. Of abstract things, excessive, extravagant.[2][1]
  4. Very great, vast, countless.[2]

Word family

  • immodicē

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
Cite this entry

“Immodicus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/immodicus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·