Etymologically
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incruentus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋ.kruˈɛn.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋ.kruˈɛn.tus][1]

Forms

incruentus (feminine incruenta, neuter incruentum, adverb incruentē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + cruentus (“bloody”).[2][3][4] cruentus comes from cruor (“blood”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kruwōs (“blood”) and Proto-Indo-European *kruh₂-ōs (“blood”), comparing Ancient Greek κρέας (kréas, “raw meat”) and Old Irish crú (“blood”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Sallust.[4] Sallust uses it of a victory, and of an army that took many places without loss.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

It is not stained with blood, above all not attended by bloodshed, of battles and victories: Livy has a fight that was not bloodless.[2][6] Of armies it is having suffered no losses, and of cities untouched.[2] Lewis & Short note that it is frequent in the historians but not in Cicero or Caesar.[6] Church Latin glosses it bloodless, with an adverb ⟨incruentē⟩.[7]

Timeline

  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of a victory and of an army without losses.[6][2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a battle not bloodless.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Bloodless, without bloodshed; not stained with blood.[2][6][1][7]
  2. Of armies, having suffered no losses.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson