Etymologically
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incaute

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Forms

incautē (comparative incautius, superlative incautissimē)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin incautus (“incautious”) + -ē.[2][1] incautus is formed from in- (“not”) and cautus (“careful”), the participle of caveō (“to beware”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[3] who in a letter to Atticus says everything so far has been done foolishly and incautiously.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It means without taking precautions, unwarily: Livy joins it with fighting rashly,[4] and Caesar has the comparative, of guards placed on the wall a little too carelessly.[4][5] Pliny the Younger uses it of eating at ease, without having to watch oneself: you can dine more grandly elsewhere, but nowhere more cheerfully, simply and freely.[2][4] Augustine has the superlative incautissimē.[4][6] In Church and Medieval Latin it also means unawares, unexpectedly.[7][8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of acting incautiously.[4][3]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of careless guards.[4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of fighting rashly.[4]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine has the superlative.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Incautiously, unwarily, carelessly, rashly.[2][4][1]
  2. Without having to watch one's behaviour, at ease.[2][4][5]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Unawares, unexpectedly.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill