infeste

Forms

īnfestē (comparative īnfestius, superlative īnfestissimē)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnfestus (“hostile”) + -ē.^[1][3] De Vaan finds the origin of īnfestus unclear: he tentatively reconstructs Proto-Italic *en-fristo- (“rushing in”), which would fit if festīnō (“to hurry”) and cōnfestim (“at once”) contain a noun meaning “hurry”, but he finds a connection with Proto-Indo-European *dʰers- (“to be bold”) not compelling, and the old derivation meaning “implacable”, still defended by Leumann, semantically and phonetically weaker.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is a line of the tragic poet Pompilius, asking why Fortune presses the speaker so hostilely;^[5] Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[3] who joins the superlative with inimicissime, of contending in the most hostile way.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

It means in a hostile way, bitterly or savagely, and is used often in the comparative and superlative.^[1][2] Livy has a lictor tearing a man's clothes all the more violently the more fiercely he shouted, of acting more stubbornly and more hostilely, and of what an enemy had done hostilely against Rome.^[5][2] Velleius, Quintilian, Tacitus and Suetonius use it too, and Tacitus writes of disasters that came more often and more savagely.^[5] Fronto says that Cato speaks hostilely in an assembly, and Apuleius has an ass wounded savagely by the points of thorns.^[5][2] Ammianus still uses it in the 4th century.^[5]

A charter of about 975 uses the superlative of the prince of this world, who rules most cruelly over the followers of vice.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the superlative with inimicissime.^[5][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses the comparative of violent action.^[5][3]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of disasters that came savagely.^[5][3]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of wounding thorns.^[5][3]
• c. 975 – An English charter uses the superlative of the devil's rule.^[6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In a hostile way, as an enemy, bitterly.^[1][2]
2. Violently, savagely, aggressively.^[1][7][6]

Related words

• īnfestus
• īnfestō
• īnfēnsē

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier