Etymologically
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indemnis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪnˈdɛm.nɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [inˈdɛm.nis][1]

Forms

indemnis (neuter indemne); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from in- (“not”), damnum (“loss, damage”) and the adjective ending -is.[2][3][4] De Vaan traces damnum to Proto-Italic *dapno- and Proto-Indo-European *dh2p-no- (“expense, investment”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Seneca,[6] who writes of Campania, never safe from earthquakes yet until then unharmed, being laid waste by one, and of a man who, his city taken, declared himself not only unconquered but unharmed.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant “suffering no damage or loss”, above all no loss of property,[2] and was used so by the jurists, as Gaius and Ulpian.[2][7] It is post-Augustan.[7] Glossaries also have the forms indamnus and indampnus.[4][3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it could mean “protected, exempt from liability”,[8] in medieval Latin also “harmless”,[9] and in British sources “safe” and “free from financial loss”.[10] Its derivative indemnitās gave English indemnity.[11]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of people and places left unharmed.[2][6]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of an heir who suffers no loss.[2][6]
  • mid-15th century – English indemnity appears, from its derivative indemnitās.[11]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Suffering no damage or loss, especially of property; unharmed.[2][7][4]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Protected, exempt from liability.[8]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Harmless.[9]

Word family

  • indemnitās

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com