Etymologically
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infeliciter

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Forms

īnfēlīciter (comparative īnfēlīcius, superlative īnfēlīcissimē)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnfēlīx (“unlucky”) + -ter, the adverb of the adjective.[2][1] The base goes back, through fēlīx, to Proto-Italic *fēl(w)ī- (“suckling”) and Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-l(u)-i-.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Terence,[4] in the Eunuchus, where a character meeting someone at the wrong moment calls it not just awkward but downright unlucky.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is “without good luck, unfortunately”;[2] from Livy on it also means “without success”, of an undertaking tried in vain.[2] It has a comparative īnfēlīcius and a superlative īnfēlīcissimē.[2][1]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in the sense “unluckily”.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a thing attempted without success.[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Without good luck, unfortunately, unhappily.[2][1]
  2. Without success, in vain.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de