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incogitatus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word incogitatus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin agō

Forms

incōgitātus (feminine incōgitāta, neuter incōgitātum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + cōgitātus (“thought”), the perfect passive participle of cōgitō (“to think”).[1][3][4] De Vaan lists that verb among the derivatives of agō (“to drive, do”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Plautus,[4] where it apparently has an active sense: īrācundō animō, indomitō, incōgitātō, “of an angry, untamed, thoughtless mind”.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short find the active sense, thoughtless or rash, in early and late Latin, and the passive sense, not thought out, from the post-Augustan age.[6] Seneca says that man is not a hasty and unplanned work, speaks of an eagerness that returned unbidden and unexpected, and in the Hercules Oetaeus calls for horrible, undreamed-of, unspeakable punishments.[1][2] Apuleius has the neuter plural incōgitāta as a noun, things said without preparation.[1][2] The Historia Augusta uses it actively of people forced to speak on great matters without having thought beforehand.[2][6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a thoughtless mind.[1][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of an unplanned work and of unimaginable punishments.[1][4]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses the neuter plural of words said without preparation.[1][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (active) Thoughtless, unreflecting, rash.[1][6][7]
  2. Not thought out beforehand, unpremeditated;[1][2] (neuter plural as noun) things said without preparation.[1][2]
  3. Not thought of, unexpected.[1][7]
  4. Never imagined, unimaginable.[1][2][7]

Usage notes

Köbler records a separate noun incōgitātus, “thought”, formed from incōgitō, in the Latin Irenaeus.[4]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
Cite this entry

“Incogitatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/incogitatus. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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