Etymologically
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inconsideratus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋ.kõː.siː.dɛˈraː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋ.kon.si.deˈraː.tus][1]

Forms

incōnsīderātus (feminine incōnsīderāta, neuter incōnsīderātum, comparative incōnsīderātior); first/second-declension adjective[2] The comparative incōnsīderātior is used; the superlative is found only in an editor's conjecture.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + cōnsīderātus (“considered, careful”),[2][3][1] and the second part is the participle of cōnsīderō (“to consider”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Rhetorica ad Herennium and in Cicero,[3] who uses it of words and of people: nihil potest dīcī incōnsīderātius, “nothing more ill-considered can be said”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is used of words and actions that have not been thought through, and of people who act without forethought, rash or injudicious.[2][3] After Cicero it appears in Nepos, Seneca the Elder, Quintilian and Tertullian.[3]

British Medieval Latin kept the sense “hasty, imprudent” and also used it passively, “not considered, disregarded”.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of rash words and of thoughtless people.[2][4]
  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses the comparative of a man more thoughtless in good fortune than in bad.[3][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of youthful rashness.[3][4]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it in the Apology.[3][4]
  • c. 1380 – A letter of Richard II's reign uses it to mean “disregarded”.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of actions, words) Not well considered, ill-advised.[2][3]
  2. (of people) Lacking forethought, hasty, injudicious, rash.[2][3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Not considered, disregarded.[5]
  • English inconsiderate

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c 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