improvidus

Forms

imprōvidus (feminine imprōvida, neuter imprōvidum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled inprōvidus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + prōvidus (“foreseeing”).^[2][1][4] prōvidus is formed on prōvideō (“to foresee”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[5] Cicero uses it of leaders and of old men who fail to look ahead.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is not looking into the future: improvident, thoughtless, unwary.^[2] Livy writes of surprising unwary and careless enemies.^[3] Of actions it is headlong or ill-considered: Livy has a headlong flight and a rash, ill-planned battle.^[2] Lewis & Short give incautus, imprūdēns and inconsultus as synonyms.^[3] In Church Latin it also means unexpected, sudden.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of improvident leaders and old men.^[3][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of unwary enemies and of a headlong flight.^[3][2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not foreseeing, improvident, thoughtless, unwary.^[2][3][1]
2. Of actions, headlong, ill-considered.^[2]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Unexpected, unforeseen, sudden.^[6][1]

Related words

• prōvidus
• imprōvidē

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 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c 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