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infinitus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word infinitus

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Varro
Ultimate origin
Latin (fīnis)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin infinitus
English infinite

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ĩː.fiːˈniː.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iɱ.fiˈniː.tus][1]

Forms

īnfīnītus (feminine īnfīnīta, neuter īnfīnītum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from in- “not” and fīnītus, the participle of fīniō “to bound”.[2][1][3] Varro has ⟨infeineit-⟩, and the comparative is apparently found only in Cicero's ⟨Topica⟩.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Varro, of the indefinite and of grammar.[2] Köbler's first source is Cicero; he dates Varro 116–27 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant indefinite, in rhetoric quaestiō īnfīnīta a general question as opposed to a particular case, and in grammar indefinite, infinitive.[2] In Cicero it meant unlimited in scope, in īnfīnītum without limit, of power absolute, and boundless in space or time, as his definition that what has no end is infinite.[2][6] In Cicero it meant very great, numberless, as in Lucretius, and of feelings boundless.[2] Isidore explains the infinitive as the mood that fixes the tense but not the person.[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant infinite.[8] Medieval Latin used it for innumerable, very many.[9] It survives in Italian infinito and French infini, and English infinite came in the late 14th century.[1][3]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the indefinite.[2][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of countless things.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the boundless.[2][5]
  • late 14th century – English infinite is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Indefinite, quaestiō īnfīnīta, a general question, (grammar) infinitive.[2]
  2. Unlimited; absolute.[2]
  3. Boundless, infinite in space or time; endless.[2]
  4. Countless, innumerable; immense.[2]
  5. Boundless, extreme.[2]

Word family

  • infīnītārius
  • īnfīnītum
  • īnfīnītēsimus
  • īnfīnībilis
  • īnfīnītās
  • īnfīnītē
  • īnfīnītiō
  • īnfīnītīvus
  • fīniō
  • fīnis
  • English infinite
  • English infinity

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill

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Cite this entry

“Infinitus.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/infinitus. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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