infandus

Forms

īnfandus (feminine īnfanda, neuter īnfandum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] The superlative īnfandissimus is perhaps found only in a tragedy of Varius.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + fandus (“to be spoken”), the negated gerundive of for (“to speak”), like nefandus.^[2][3][1] The verb for goes back to Proto-Italic *fā- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek φημί (phēmí, “I say”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Terence.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means too horrible to be spoken of, unspeakable, monstrous or accursed, as in Cicero's “a cruel and unspeakable thing”.^[2][6] Livy uses it of banquets of human flesh and of murders, and Virgil of grief, love, war and the Cyclopes.^[6] The neuter is used as an exclamation, as in Virgil's “our ships are lost – unspeakable!”^[6]

Church Latin glosses it “unspeakable, unheard of”.^[7]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a cruel deed.^[6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of grief and as an exclamation.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of cannibal feasts.^[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Unspeakable, monstrous, abominable, accursed.^[2][6][1]

Related words

• nefandus
• for

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson