inconsultus

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ɪŋ.kõːˈsʊɫ.tʊs]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [iŋ.konˈsul.tus]^[1]

Forms

incōnsultus (feminine incōnsulta, neuter incōnsultum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + cōnsultus (“considered, consulted”), the negative prefix with the participle of cōnsulō (“to deliberate, consult”).^[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of cōnsulō, which he traces to Proto-Italic *kom-se/ol-e/o- (“to consult”) and Proto-Indo-European *s(e)lh₁-e/o- (“to take”), comparing Ancient Greek εἷλον (heîlon, “took”).^[3] He mentions an older alternative, *kom-sed- "to sit together", which he finds semantically attractive but formally weaker.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in a play on cōnsultum: a well-considered plan becomes an ill-considered one if it is of use to the enemy.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Most often it is active, of people who act without taking counsel, thoughtless or rash: Cicero pairs it with temerārius.^[2] Virgil uses it of people who leave the Sibyl without having received an answer.^[2] With passive force it means not consulted, as when Livy tells of games vowed without consulting the senate;^[2][4] Lewis & Short note that this use is probably not Ciceronian.^[2][4] Medieval texts keep the passive sense, of a person whose advice has not been asked.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of an ill-considered plan.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a rash man.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of people leaving without advice.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the senate not being consulted.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not having taken counsel, thoughtless, rash, ill-advised; of words and acts, unwise.^[2][4][1][7]
2. (poetic) Not having received advice at a consultation.^[2]
3. Not consulted, unasked.^[2][4][1][5]

Usage notes

Beside it is a rare fourth-declension noun incōnsultus, found only in the ablative: Plautus has incōnsultū meō, "without consulting me".^[2][4][3] The adverb is incōnsultē.^[7]

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 l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson