Etymologically
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incuria

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈkuː.ri.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈkuː.ri.a][1]

Forms

incūria f (genitive incūriae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + cūra (“care”) + -ia;[2][3][4] the TLL takes it as formed on the model of iniūria.[3] De Vaan traces that noun to Proto-Italic *kwois-ā- (“care, watch”) and perhaps Proto-Indo-European *kwei-s- (“to heed”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato.[5] Cicero writes of soldiers of the Roman people destroyed by neglect, hunger, disease and devastation.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is want of care or attention: neglect, carelessness, indifference.[2][6] Cicero speaks of neglect of something most necessary, and Horace of the blots that carelessness lets fall.[6] Tacitus uses it often.[6] Festus and Porphyrio gloss it as neglegentia, care that has no care.[3] Church Latin keeps the senses neglect, carelessness, indifference.[7]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato.[5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of neglect of soldiers.[6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of the faults carelessness lets fall.[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Want of care, neglect, carelessness, negligence, indifference.[2][6][1][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c 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 f g 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