Etymologically
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incendiarius

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɪŋ.kɛn.diˈaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [in̠ʲ.t͡ʃen.diˈaː.ri.us][1]

Forms

incendiārius (feminine incendiāria, neuter incendiārium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin incendium (“fire, conflagration”) + -ārius.[2][1][3] Incendium is from incendō “to set on fire”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca the Younger, in the Natural Questions, lists fire-raisers among unpunished criminals.[2] Köbler dates Seneca 4 BC–65 AD.[4]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it meant a fire-raiser or incendiary, as in Tacitus, where a conspirator tells Nero he began to hate him when he became an incendiary, and in Suetonius' life of Vitellius.[2][5][6] As an adjective it meant causing fire: Pliny's incendiaria avis, an ill-omened bird thought to bring fire, which some took to be any bird seen carrying a coal.[2][3] Vegetius has incendiary oil and Ammianus fire-bearing missiles.[5][6]

Medieval Latin used it of arsonists, ranked with murderers and sacrilegious men.[7][8] English incendiary is recorded about 1400 for a person who sets malicious fires, and of political agitators from the 1630s.[9]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca the Younger uses it of fire-raisers.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions the incendiaria avis.[2][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of Nero.[5][4]
  • c. 1400 – English incendiary is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Causing fire, incendiary, incendiaria avis, a bird of ill omen.[2][1]

Noun

  1. A fire-raiser, arsonist.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com