inconveniens

Forms

inconveniēns (genitive inconvenientis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- (“not”) + conveniēns (“fitting”),^[2][1] the present participle of conveniō (“to come together, suit”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL lists the grammarian Sinnius, Phaedrus and Seneca's dialogues as its first sources.^[3] The grammarian, quoted by Aulus Gellius, defines a solecism as impar atque inconveniens compositura partium orationis (“an uneven and ill-matched joining of the parts of speech”),^[2][3] and Phaedrus says of bees and drones non inconveniens corpus (“a body not unlike”).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “not matching, discordant, dissimilar”;^[2][4] Lewis and Short note that it is classical but not used by Cicero or Caesar, and find it in a letter of Cassius to Cicero.^[4] The figurative “unfitting, unbecoming”, often with a dative, is post-classical in their view,^[4] and the jurist Pomponius uses it in the Digest.^[2] The Vulgate has it in Wisdom, and Boethius pairs it with absurdum.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it meant “inconsistent, contradictory”, also as a term of logic and philosophy, and as a neuter noun “inconsistency, absurdity”.^[5] Köbler records a medieval noun meaning a wrong or harm, and Albert the Great's use of it for a dissolute person.^[6] English inconvenient came from it in the late 14th century,^[7] as did Italian inconveniente and Spanish inconveniente.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of bodies not unlike each other.^[3][4][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in On the Happy Life.^[4][6]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it for “unbefitting”, with a dative.^[4][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a discordant cry in Wisdom.^[3][6]
• 793 – Alcuin uses it in a letter for “not agreeing with” the apostolic traditions.^[5]
• 1012–1018 – Thietmar of Merseburg uses the medieval noun.^[6]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as inconvenient.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not matching, discordant, dissimilar.^[2][4]
2. Unfitting, unbecoming, unsuitable.^[2][4]
3. (Medieval Latin, also logic) Inconsistent, contradictory.^[5]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) An inconsistency, an absurdity.^[5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A wrong, harm, disadvantage.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com