Etymologically
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inausus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪˈnau̯.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈnaːu̯.sus][1]

Forms

inausus (feminine inausa, neuter inausum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + ausus (“dared”), the negative prefix with the perfect participle of audeō (“to dare”).[2][1][3] De Vaan derives that verb from avidus (“greedy”): it first meant “to want very much”, as the old ⟨sōdēs⟩ “if you please”, from ⟨sī audēs⟩, still shows, and then came to mean “to dare”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Virgil.[5] Virgil writes nē quid inausum aut intractātum scelerisve dolīve fuisset, “so that no crime or trick should be left undared or untried”.[6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.[6] Seneca says the mind should know that nothing is undared for fortune, Martial that Selius leaves nothing untried and nothing undared, and Tacitus has quid … inausum intemerātumve vōbīs?, “what has been left undared and unviolated by you?”.[6][7] The DMLBS records an active sense, “not bold, unventuresome”, in British Medieval Latin.[8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of crimes left undared.[6][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of fortune.[6][5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it.[7][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it.[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not ventured on, undared, unattempted.[2][6][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Not bold, unventuresome.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ 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