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incommodum

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word incommodum

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

Forms

incommodum n (genitive incommodī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of incommodus (“inconvenient, troublesome”), used as a noun.[2][1][3] incommodus is in- (“not”) and commodus (“convenient”), which de Vaan lists among the words formed on modus (“measure”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has incommodī sī quid tibi ēvēnit, id nōn est culpa mea, “if any harm has come to you, it is not my fault”.[2] Köbler first records it in Cicero.[5]

Semantic evolution

Incommodum is “harm, detriment, disadvantage”, and “inconvenience, discomfort” (Cicero: nec id incommodō tuō, “and without inconvenience to you”).[2][3][1] Especially in the plural it is “a misfortune, trouble” (Plautus), and in war “a setback, defeat”: Caesar tells the Helvetii to remember veteris incommodī populī Rōmānī, the old defeat of the Roman people.[2][1] In medical writers it is “an ailment”.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “discomfort, inconvenience, disadvantage, misfortune”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: incommodī sī quid tibi ēvēnit.[2][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar: veteris incommodī populī Rōmānī.[2][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it for an ailment.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Harm, detriment, disadvantage.[2][3][1][6]
  2. inconvenience, discomfort.[2][6]
  3. A misfortune, trouble.[2][1][6]
  4. (military) A setback, defeat.[2][1]
  5. (medicine) An ailment.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Incommodum.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/incommodum. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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