inconstans

Forms

incōnstāns (genitive incōnstantis, adverb incōnstanter); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + cōnstāns (“steady, constant”).^[2][1][3] The second part is the present participle of cōnstō (“to stand firm”), a compound of con- and stō (“to stand”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD record it first in Cicero,^[4][2] who tells an opponent he seemed ridiculously inconsistent, qui eundem et laederes et laudares, “since you both attacked and praised the same man”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Of people it means not steadfast, fickle, changeable, and Cicero applies it also to words and actions, to letters and to a whole life at odds with itself.^[2][6] Seneca calls the people in omnibus inconstantissimus.^[2][5] In rhetoric it means self-contradictory: Cicero defines an inconsistent argument as one in which the same person says different things about the same matter, and Quintilian warns against a wavering witness.^[2][7] Of things it means unsettled or changeable, as Seneca's lower air and Pliny the Elder's inconstantes venti, and of speech or expression agitated, as in Cicero and Gellius.^[2][6] The Vulgate has vir duplex animo inconstans est in omnibus viis suis.^[7] Medieval writers in Britain use it of one who is not steadfast, and of an unsteady faith.^[8] English took it over from Old French as inconstant around 1400.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of fickle people and inconsistent arguments.^[2][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the people and of the air.^[2][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has inconstantes venti.^[2][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of the double-minded man.^[7][4]
• c. 1400 – English inconstant is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of things, unsettled, unstable, changeable; of speech or expression, agitated.^[2][6]
2. Of persons, words or actions, not steadfast, fickle, inconsistent.^[2][5][7]
3. Self-contradictory in speech.^[2]

Word family

• incōnstantia
• incōnstanter

Related words

• cōnstāns
• cōnstō
• stō
• English inconstant

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com