Etymologically
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infructuosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩː.fruːk.tuˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱ.fruk.tuˈɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

īnfrūctuōsus (feminine īnfrūctuōsa, neuter īnfrūctuōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + frūctuōsus (“fruitful”).[2][1] The adjective is built on frūctus (“fruit, produce”), from fruor (“to enjoy”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *frūg-je/o- and Proto-Indo-European *bhruHg-ie/o- (“to use”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Columella,[4] who speaks of a vineyard of a bad kind that bears no fruit.[2] L&S call it post-Augustan.[5]

Semantic evolution

Used first of plants and land that yield nothing (Pliny the Elder of trees made barren by a bad site, the jurist Scaevola of an inherited estate a wife sold as unprofitable),[2] it was soon applied to anything that brings no return: Tacitus writes of empty and fruitless praise and of long, unrewarding military service, and Pliny the Younger of fruitless prayers.[2][5] The OLD notes a passage of the elder Seneca where it seems to mean “having evil results”.[2]

Christian writers used it of barren trees and wood in the Vulgate, of works that bear no fruit, and of people who do no good;[6] Jerome and Augustine formed the adverb īnfrūctuōsē.[5] Medieval writers used it for unfruitful, unprofitable and vain.[7]

Timeline

  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a vineyard that bears no fruit.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of barren trees.[2][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of fruitless praise and unrewarding service.[2][4]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of barren trees and of unfruitful people.[6][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of plants, land) unfruitful, barren.[2][5]
  2. Fruitless, unprofitable, useless.[2][5][6]
  3. Having evil results.[2]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) (of people) Bearing no fruit, doing no good.[6]

Word family

  • infructuositas

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften