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
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
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ 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
- ^ 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.
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