improbitas

Forms

improbitās f (genitive improbitātis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled inprobitās.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin improbus (“wicked, shameless”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] ⟨Improbus⟩ is in- (“not”) and probus (“good, honest”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *profo- (“favourable”) and Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰ(h₂)u-o-, comparing Sanskrit प्रभु (prabhú-, “excelling”) and the adverbs Oscan amprufid (“improperly”) and Umbrian prufe (“properly”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Cicero as its first author.^[5] In the Pro Cluentio Cicero says truth, held down by the dishonesty of many, often comes to light.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is want of principle or dishonesty, and outrageous or immoderate behaviour, shamelessness, audacity, as Cicero's sanctuary that neither impudence nor even carelessness may enter.^[2][3]

Church Latin glosses it “importunity, depravity, wickedness”.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of dishonesty and shamelessness.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Want of principle, dishonesty, wickedness, improbity.^[2][1][3]
2. Shamelessness, audacity, presumption, (Ecclesiastical Latin) importunity.^[2][1][6]

Related words

• improbus
• probus
• probitās

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson