Etymologically
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inimicitia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.nɪ.miːˈkɪ.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.ni.miˈt͡ʃit.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

inimīcitia f (genitive inimīcitiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin inimīcus (“unfriendly; enemy”) + -ia, as amīcitia is from amīcus.[2][3][1] The adjective is the negative of ⟨amīcus⟩, which de Vaan derives with amō (“to love”) from Proto-Italic *ama- (“to take, hold”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃mh₃- (“to take hold of”): “to take someone's hand” became “to regard as a friend”.[4] Cognates are Old Irish námae (“enemy”) and Ancient Greek ὄμνυμι (ómnumi, “to swear”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius, in a tragedy, has the singular: amīcitiam atque inimīcitiam in frontem promptam gerō, “I wear friendship and enmity openly on my brow”.[2][5] De Vaan records it from Plautus on.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly plural, often with singular meaning: inimīcitiae are a state of enmity between individuals, which one could “take up” (capere, Terence, suscipere, Cicero) against someone.[2][6][3] The TLL cites Caesar's De analogia, reported by Gellius, on its use in the plural.[3] The singular means the feeling of ill will, hostility or dislike (Ennius, Cicero).[2][1]

Döderlein contrasts odium and invidia, the feeling of aversion, with inimīcitia and simultās, the outward state that the feeling produces.[7] Church Latin glosses it “enmity”.[8] In medieval Latin it is a private war, a blood feud.[9]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius has the singular.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: inimīcitiās capere.[6][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: inimīcitiās suscipere.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (usually plural) enmity, hostility, a feud.[2][1][8]
  2. (singular) Ill will, dislike, hatred.[2][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A private war, blood feud.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill