Etymologically
Log in

incomptus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈkoːmp.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈkɔmp.tus][1]

Forms

incōmptus (feminine incōmpta, neuter incōmptum, comparative incōmptior); first/second-declension adjective[1] Also spelled incomtus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + cōmptus (“dressed, adorned”), the participle of cōmō (“to arrange, dress the hair”).[4][1][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[5] who says that, as some women are thought to be suited by their very lack of ornament, so the plain style pleases even when unpolished.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Literally it is said of hair not properly arranged, dishevelled, and of persons untidy in appearance: Horace has Curius with unkempt hair and a head entwined with short vipers, and Suetonius says Augustus' hair was rather untidy.[4][2] Tacitus uses it of a soldier marching rough and unkempt, and of a simple equipment;[4][2] Lewis & Short also give nails left untrimmed.[4][2] Figuratively it is unpolished, rough, unrefined, above all of speech or writing: Virgil has country people sport in rough verses, Livy says a speech was unpolished but weighty in a soldierly way, and Gellius praises the simple and unadorned charm of old speech.[4][2] Seneca speaks of an unstudied beauty.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the unpolished plain style.[4][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of rough verses.[4][2]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of unkempt hair.[4][2]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of Augustus' hair.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of hair, not arranged, dishevelled; of persons, unkempt, untidy; unadorned.[4][2][1]
  2. Unpolished, rough, inelegant, artless, especially of speech or writing.[4][2][1]

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de