Etymologically
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inexpertus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.nɛkˈspɛr.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.nekˈspɛr.tus][1]

Forms

inexpertus (feminine inexperta, neuter inexpertum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + expertus (“tried, experienced”), the participle of experior (“to try”).[2][3][1] De Vaan treats ⟨-perior⟩ with pariō (“to bring forth”), from Proto-Italic *per(e)i- (“to find, experience”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Livy.[5] The OLD's first example is Virgil's Aeneid, where Dido resolves to leave nothing untried before she dies.[2] Lewis & Short note that it is not in Cicero or Caesar.[6]

Semantic evolution

Actively it means lacking experience of a thing, as Livy's army unused to good fortune and Tacitus' visitors unacquainted with licence.[2][6] Passively it means untried or untested, and not known from experience, unfamiliar: Publilius Syrus says that whatever happens unexpectedly does more harm.[2] Church Latin glosses it inexperienced, unaccustomed.[7]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of something untried.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of an army unused to good things.[6][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of people unacquainted with licence.[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Lacking experience of a thing, inexperienced, unaccustomed.[2][6][1]
  2. Not tested, untried, unproven.[2][6][1]
  3. Not known from experience, unfamiliar.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson