inanimatus

Forms

inanimātus (feminine inanimāta, neuter inanimātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in-² + animātus (“animated, living”).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jerome and Servius use it for what has no soul or life.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It was a Late Latin word, not used by Cicero;^[5] the classical adjectives were inanimus and inanimis.^[3] Boethius contrasts the inanimate statue with the animate man, and Cassiodorus earthly things living and lifeless.^[2] In the controversies over Christ it was used of the flesh without a rational soul that some heretics taught.^[2] Medieval Latin kept it for lifeless,^[6] and English inanimate (early 15th century) comes from the Late Latin word.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it for what is lifeless.^[2][4]
• c. 400 AD – Servius uses it in his commentary on the Aeneid.^[2][4]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as inanimate.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Lifeless, inanimate, without a soul.^[5][2][6]

Related words

• English inanimate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill