Etymologically
Log in

infelix

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 21:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
← Previous version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩːˈfeː.liːks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱˈfɛː.liks][1]

Forms

īnfēlīx (genitive īnfēlīcis, comparative īnfēlīcior, superlative īnfēlīcissimus, adverb īnfēlīciter); third-declension one-termination adjective[1] Catullus has the ablative īnfēlīce.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- (“not”) + fēlīx (“fruitful, fortunate”).[2][1][3] De Vaan derives fēlīx from Proto-Italic *fēl(w)ī- (“suckling”), from a stem Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-l- (“sucking animal”) of the root of fīlius (“son”), cognate with Ancient Greek θηλή (thēlḗ, “nipple”) and Ancient Greek θῆλυς (thêlus, “female”); its sense developed from “suckling, with young” to “fruitful” and “fortunate”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[3] who has quem propter hodiē aurī tantum perdidī īnfēlīx, miser, “because of whom I have lost so much gold today, unlucky wretch that I am”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of plants and soil īnfēlīx is “unproductive, barren” (Virgil: īnfēlīx lolium et sterilēs nāscuntur avēnae, “barren darnel and sterile oats spring up”); Pliny the Elder says people call a tree that bears no fruit īnfēlīx.[2][5][1] It is “causing misfortune, disastrous, ill-omened”, and of persons “ill-fated, unlucky”, also simply “unhappy, wretched” (Cicero: torqueor īnfēlīx, “I am tormented in my misery”).[2][5][1] Of persons it can mean “unsuccessful” at something, and of actions and policies “having an unhappy outcome”.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “unhappy, unlucky”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: perdidī īnfēlīx, miser.[2][3]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of what is harmful to the crop.[2][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: īnfēlīx lolium.[2][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder on the arbor īnfēlīx.[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unproductive, barren (of plants or soil).[2][5][1]
  2. Causing misfortune, disastrous, ill-omened.[2][1]
  3. Ill-fated, unfortunate, unlucky.[2][1][6]
  4. unhappy, wretched, miserable.[2][1][6]
  5. Unsuccessful; having an unhappy outcome.[2]

Word family

  • īnfēlīcitās
  • infēlīcō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson