impurus

Forms

impūrus (feminine impūra, neuter impūrum, comparative impūrior, superlative impūrissimus, adverb impūrē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in-² (“not”) + pūrus (“pure, clean”).^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on, as a term of abuse: in the Bacchides a character addresses another as “you vile man”.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus and Terence the word, often in the superlative, was a general insult,^[2][3] and in Classical Latin it meant morally foul, especially in sexual conduct.^[2][5] The literal sense of dirty or muddy is rare: Propertius has it of muddy places and Ovid of an unclean mother's womb.^[2][5]

In Medieval Latin it meant unclean in the literal and in the religious sense, profane or desecrated, and shameful;^[6] British writers also used it of adulterated substances in medicine and alchemy.^[7] Through Old French it gave English impure, first of muddy wine.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as a term of abuse.^[2][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses the superlative.^[3][4]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of muddy places.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of an unclean womb.^[5][4]
• c. 120 AD – Florus uses it of poisons used against divine law.^[2][4]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as impure, of muddy wine.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dirty, muddy, unclean.^[2][5]
2. Morally foul, impure, especially in sexual conduct.^[2][5]
3. As a term of abuse: vile, infamous, abominable.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) Unclean in the religious sense; profane.^[6][9]
5. (Medieval Latin) Adulterated, of a substance.^[7]

Word family

• impūritās
• impūritia
• impūrātus
• impūrē

Usage notes

It is also spelled inpurus.^[2][5] Lewis & Short compare its near-synonyms obscēnus, spurcus and immundus.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson