Etymologically
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inaequalis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.nae̯ˈkʷaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.neˈkʷaː.lis][1]

Forms

inaequālis (neuter inaequāle, comparative inaequālior, superlative inaequālissimus, adverb inaequāliter); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + aequālis (“equal, even”).[2][3][4] aequālis comes from aequus (“level, equal”), for which de Vaan finds no convincing etymology.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.[4]

Semantic evolution

Of surfaces it is uneven, not level: the Aetna has uneven fields, and Lewis & Short note this sense in Tacitus, Quintilian and Martial.[2][6] It is also of irregular shape or course: Livy has battle joined on an uneven front.[2] Celsus uses it of sweat that is patchy, and the elder Seneca of declamations uneven in merit.[2] It is unequal in size or strength: Horace has a guest draining unequal cups as he likes, and Livy calls a largesse unequally shared.[2] Of a person it is inconsistent: Horace has a man who lived so unevenly that he changed his stripe by the hour.[2] The TLL finds the comparative in Celsus and Pliny the Younger and the superlative in Suetonius.[3] Niermeyer records medieval senses wrongful and defective.[7] Church Latin glosses it unequal, uneven, unlike.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of unequal cups and an inconsistent man.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of an uneven front.[2][4]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of patchy sweat.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of surfaces, uneven, not level.[2][6][1][8]
  2. Irregular in shape or course; patchy; uneven in merit.[2]
  3. Unequal in size, strength or share.[2][6][1][8]
  4. Of persons, inconsistent, changeable.[2][6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Wrongful; defective.[7]

Word family

  • inaequālitās

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson