Etymologically
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indignatio

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Forms

indignātiō f (genitive indignātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin indignor (“to regard as unworthy, resent”) + -tiō.[2][3][1] That verb is from indignus (“unworthy”), in- with dignus (“worthy”).[1][4] De Vaan traces dignus to Proto-Italic *dek-no- (“worthy”) and Proto-Indo-European *deḱ-no-, beside decet (“it is fitting”); cognate words include Ancient Greek δέχομαι (dékhomai, “to take, accept”) and Old Irish dech (“best”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero;[6] its first example in the OLD is in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, where a figure of speech can stir either indignation or pity.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means anger roused by a sense of wrong, indignation or resentment, and also an expression of it, an angry outburst; in rhetoric a speech or passage meant to rouse indignation.[2][7] Livy speaks of public indignations over the loss of the tribunes' power.[2] Juvenal uses it for a cause of indignation, and Apuleius of the fury of the elements, as when rain beats the ground in hail.[2]

Döderlein distinguishes it from ira, anger as a passion that thirsts for revenge: indignatio is an aroused moral feeling that expresses disapproval or contempt.[8] Church Latin glosses it anger, indignation, disdain, and medieval Latin has it for disregard.[9][10] English borrowed indignation about 1200.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of public expressions of indignation.[2][6]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal of a cause for indignation.[2][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of the fury of the elements.[2][6]
  • c. 1200 – Borrowed into English as indignation.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Anger roused by a sense of wrong, indignation, resentment.[2][7][9][1]
  2. (poetic) A cause for indignation, annoyance.[2]
  3. The fury of the elements.[2]
  4. An expression of indignation, an angry outburst;[2] (rhetoric) a speech meant to rouse indignation.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Disdain, disregard.[10]

Word family

  • indignātiuncula

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill