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ingenitus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word ingenitus

ingenitus1 inborn

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (gignō)

Forms

ingenitus (feminine ingenita, neuter ingenitum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

In the sense “inborn”, it is the participle from Latin ingignō (“to implant”).[1][2] That verb is a compound of in- (“in”) and gignō (“to beget”);[1][3] the OLD notes that it occurs mostly as this participle.[1] De Vaan traces gignō to Proto-Indo-European *ǵi-ǵnh₁-e/o- (“to engender”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in Cicero,[1][5] who in the De finibus writes that human nature has something inborn that is, as it were, civic and social (quiddam ingenitum quasi civile atque populare).[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Of qualities and feelings it means inborn or inherent: Sallust, Livy (the pride inborn in the Campanians), Seneca (old, inborn hatreds), Quintilian, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius (inborn vices) use it so, and an inscription praises a man adorned with inborn modesty.[1][2] Of material things it means implanted by nature, natural, as of vines with an inborn sterility in Columella.[1][2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of something inborn in human nature.[1][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes of pride inborn in the Campanians.[1][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella writes of vines with an inborn sterility.[2][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius writes of inborn vices.[1][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of qualities or feelings, inborn, innate, inherent.[1][2]
  2. Of material things, implanted by nature, natural.[1][2]

ingenitus2 unbegotten

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
297–310 AD, Arnobius
Ultimate origin
Latin (gignō)

Forms

ingenitus (feminine ingenita, neuter ingenitum); first/second-declension adjective[6]

Etymology

The unbegotten is from Latin in- (“not”) + genitus (“begotten”).[7][6][8] Its second part, genitus, is the participle of gignō (“to beget”), which de Vaan regards as relatively recent, having replaced an older ⟨*gnātos⟩.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Georges and Gaffiot cite Arnobius first,[6][8][5] who calls God ingenitus.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of Christian theology, meaning not begotten or uncreated.[7][6] Hilary of Poitiers defines the ingenitus as one made by no one, and sets the unbegotten Father against the only-begotten Son; it recurs in the controversies over the Trinity, in Ambrose and in Consentius' letters to Augustine.[7][6] The neuter plural was used of the two uncreated principles of the Manichaeans, and Rufinus has it of matter that some thought was not made by God.[7] An adverb ingenitē, “without being begotten”, also occurs.[7] In medieval Latin it still means unbegotten.[9]

Timeline

  • 297–310 AD – Arnobius calls God ingenitus.[6][7][5]
  • c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers contrasts the unbegotten Father with the only-begotten Son.[7][5]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose asks how the unbegotten and the begotten can be of one nature.[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Unbegotten, not born; uncreated, of God the Father.[7][6][9]
  2. Uncreated, of the principles of the Manichaeans or of matter.[7]
  • ūnigenitus

Usage notes

The two words are separate formations: the first is the participle of ingignō, with the prefix meaning “in”, the second has the negative prefix in-.[1][7][6] Georges and the TLL number the theological word first;[6][7][8] Gaffiot numbers the participle first.[6][7][8]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
Cite this entry

“Ingenitus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/ingenitus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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