Etymologically
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incommodus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈkɔm.mɔ.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈkɔm.mo.dus][1]

Forms

incommodus (feminine incommoda, neuter incommodum, superlative incommodissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + commodus (“convenient, suitable”).[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it with commodus under modus “measure”, which he traces to Proto-Italic *medo- (“measure, judgement”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o- (“measure”), comparing Umbrian meřs (“law”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[4][5] in whom someone is told to answer nicely so that he will not be troublesome.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is troublesome or annoying, and disadvantageous: Cicero speaks of a valuation that is not only no burden to the farmer but welcome.[2] Terence has an inconvenient journey and Cicero poor health.[6] It is also unpleasant: Plautus has someone torment another with unpleasant words.[2] Of people it is disobliging: in the Asinaria a man admits his wife is troublesome and disobliging.[2] Glosses explain it as fruitless or useless.[3] In medieval Latin it can mean ill.[7] Church Latin glosses it inconvenient, unsuitable.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a troublesome person and of unpleasant words.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of an inconvenient journey.[6][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a burden on farmers and of poor health.[2][6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Troublesome, tiresome, annoying; inconvenient.[2][6][1][8]
  2. Disadvantageous, unfavourable, especially of health.[2]
  3. Unpleasant, disagreeable.[2][1]
  4. Of people, disobliging.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Ill.[7]

Word family

  • comincommodus
  • incommodesticus
  • incommoditās
  • incommodum
  • perincommodus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson