Etymologically

imperturbatus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word imperturbatus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
43 BC–18 AD, Ovid
Ultimate origin
Latin (turba)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin turbo
Latin exturbo
Latin conturbo
Latin disturbo
Latin proturbo
Latin obturbo
Latin perturbo
Latin imperturbatus
Latin deturbo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪm.pɛr.tʊrˈbaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [im.per.turˈbaː.tus][1]

Forms

imperturbātus (feminine imperturbāta, neuter imperturbātum); first/second-declension adjective[1] It is also spelled inperturbātus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + perturbātus (“disturbed”),[2][4][1] from the participle of perturbō (“to upset, disrupt”), a compound of turbō1 (“to agitate”), which comes from turba (“turmoil, crowd”).[5][6] The origin of turba is unclear; de Vaan finds it most like Ancient Greek τύρβη (túrbē, “noise, commotion”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first passage is in Ovid's Ibis, of what an accused man once drank with untroubled face: inperturbato quod bibit ore reus.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it very rare.[3] Seneca, from whom Köbler dates it,[6] uses it of quiet undisturbed by public business and of the steadfast man, who is untroubled.[3] Pliny the Younger says he listens imperturbatus, interritus, untroubled and unafraid.[3] The glossaries explain it with inconcussus and incommotus, unshaken and unmoved.[4]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of an untroubled face.[4][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of quiet and of the steadfast man.[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Undisturbed, untroubled, serene, unruffled.[2][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Imperturbatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/imperturbatus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·