indecore

Forms

indecōrē (comparative indecōrius)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin indecōrus (“unbecoming, unsightly”) + -ē.^[1][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus' Rudens, where a speaker complains that the gods have dealt this out indecōrē, inīquē, immodestē, “unbecomingly, unfairly, immoderately”.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense was moral, “in an unseemly way, unbecomingly”: Cicero speaks of taking care not to do anything unbecomingly or effeminately,^[1][2] Curtius speaks of the insignia of power thrown away unbecomingly,^[1][3] and Quintilian and Fronto use it of style, Fronto with the comparative indecōrius.^[1][3]

In a physical sense it meant “in an unsightly way”: Celsus uses it of a navel that sticks out unsightly,^[1][3] and Tacitus says of captured boats fitted with many-coloured cloaks for sails that they were helped along haud indecōrē, “not unattractively”.^[1][2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the gods' unbecoming treatment of a speaker.^[1][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of unseemly or effeminate conduct.^[1][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of an unsightly protruding navel.^[1][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses haud indecōrē of boats with cloaks for sails.^[1][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In an unsightly manner.^[1][3]
2. In an unseemly manner, unbecomingly.^[1][3][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.