Etymologically
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infestus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩːˈfɛs.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱˈfɛs.tus][1]

Forms

īnfestus (feminine īnfesta, neuter īnfestum, comparative īnfestior, superlative īnfestissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1] An inscription has īnfistus.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from in- and an element ⟨-festus⟩ also found in manifestus (“caught in the act”), whose origin is obscure.[2][3][1] If that adjective first meant “caught by hand”, ⟨-festus⟩ would have meant “grabbing, attacking”; de Vaan finds the link with Proto-Indo-European *dʰers- (“to be bold”) unconvincing, and the old derivation from ⟨*n̥-gʷʰed-to-⟩ “implacable” farther off in meaning and hard in form.[3] He tentatively reconstructs Proto-Italic *en-fristo- (“rushing in”), connecting festīnō (“to hurry”).[3] L&S, followed by Köbler, explained it from ⟨*fendō⟩, the verb in dēfendō.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] who has num quid mihi minātur? – tibi īnfesta solist, “is she threatening me? – she is hostile to you alone”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Īnfestus is “hostile, antagonistic” to a person or cause, and “aggressive, warlike, furious” (Sallust: hostem īnfestum, “the enemy bent on attack”).[2][4][1] Of armies it is “taking the offensive, threatening attack”, and of weapons “raised, poised to strike”.[2][1] Of things it is “harmful, troublesome” (Cicero: Charybdis īnfesta nautīs, “dangerous to sailors”), of places “unsafe, infested”, and passively “exposed to danger, threatened, insecure” (Cicero of a son's life often attacked with steel).[2][4][1]

Church Latin glosses it “hostile”.[6] L&S compare it with īnfēnsus.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: tibi īnfesta solist.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: Charybdis īnfesta nautīs.[2][5]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust: hostem īnfestum.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. hostile, antagonistic.[2][4][1][6]
  2. aggressive, warlike, furious.[2][1]
  3. Threatening attack;[2] (of weapons) poised to strike.[1]
  4. Harmful, troublesome.[2][1]
  5. Unsafe, dangerous; infested (with).[1][4]
  6. Exposed to danger, threatened, insecure.[2][1]

Word family

  • īnfestō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 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 d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson