incustoditus

Forms

incustōdītus (feminine incustōdīta, neuter incustōdītum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + custōdītus (“guarded”),^[2][3][1] from the participle of custōdiō (“to guard”), which is derived from custōs (“guardian”).^[4][5] The origin of custōs is unclear: de Vaan rejects as unlikely the accepted explanation as “one who sits by what is hidden”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL record it first in Ovid,^[5][3] whose cattle wander unguarded over the fields: vagantur incustoditae lata per arva boves.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.^[6] Ovid also has an unguarded sheepfold and Martial an unguarded, open doorway;^[6] Silius uses it of a night when no watch is kept.^[2] Tacitus applies it to persons and activities not kept under watch, as crossings left unsupervised but by day and unarmed,^[2] to dates not carefully observed in signing a will,^[2][6] and to an affection that was not concealed or guarded.^[2][6] In an active sense it is heedless or imprudent, as Pliny the Younger's incustoditus nimis et incautus.^[6]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of unguarded cattle and sheepfolds.^[2][6][5]
• 25–101 AD – Silius, of an unwatched night.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of unsupervised crossings and unguarded love.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not watched over, unguarded; of times, without a watch kept.^[2][6][1]
2. Of persons and their activities, not kept under observation, unsupervised.^[2]
3. Not carefully noted or observed, disregarded.^[2][6][1]
4. Not concealed; not prudent, heedless.^[2][6][1]

Related words

• custōdiō
• custōs

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press