Etymologically
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incustoditus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋ.kʊs.toːˈdiː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋ.kus.toˈdiː.tus][1]

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]

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