Etymologically
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immodicus

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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