incuriosus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɪŋ.kuː.riˈoː.sʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iŋ.ku.riˈɔː.s̬us]^[1]

Forms

incūriōsus (feminine incūriōsa, neuter incūriōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from in- (“not”) and cūriōsus “careful”, or from incūria “carelessness” with -ōsus.^[2][1] De Vaan, following Leumann, takes ⟨cūriōsus⟩ as a back-formation from ⟨incūriōsus⟩; he reconstructs cūra as Proto-Italic ⟨*kʷois-ā-⟩ “care, watch”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Sallust.^[2][4] Köbler dates Sallust 86–34 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant paying no attention, careless, negligent, unconcerned, indifferent, as in Sallust, Tacitus and Suetonius, and passively neglected, done carelessly, and Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan in most uses.^[2][5] nōn incūriōsus was conscientious.^[4]

British Medieval Latin used it for careless and not interested in.^[6]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it.^[2][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Careless, negligent, indifferent.^[2][5]

Word family

• incuriositas
• incūriōsē

Related words

• cūriōsus
• incūria
• cūra

References

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