Etymologically
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iniquus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɪˈniː.kʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iˈniː.kʷus][1]

Forms

inīquus (feminine inīqua, neuter inīquum, comparative inīquior, superlative inīquissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1] It is often written inīcus, which manuscripts confuse with inimīcus.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- (“not”) + aequus (“level, equal, fair”), with the vowel weakened.[2][3][1] aequus (Old Latin ⟨aiquom⟩) is probably from ⟨*aikwos⟩, but de Vaan finds no convincing etymology for it.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[5] but the OLD cites Plautus: illī inīquī iūs ignōrant, “those unfair men know nothing of justice”, and women live lēge … inīquiōre … quam virī, “under a harsher law than men”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Inīquus is first “uneven, rough” of ground (Caesar: subīre inīquissimum locum, “to climb a very steep place”), “unequal”, “excessive” or “too small”, and of a contest “ill-matched” (Cicero: haec est inīqua certātiō).[2][3] Of laws and actions it is “unfair, harsh” (of false weights, exorbitant interest, unjust charges), and of persons “prejudiced, hostile”; as a noun inīquus is an ill-wisher, an enemy.[2][1] Circumstances, positions, winds and seas that work against someone are inīqua, “unfavourable, adverse”.[2][1] Inīquō animō is “with resentment, discontentedly”.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “unjust, wicked, godless”, and as a noun “evildoer”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: illī inīquī iūs ignōrant.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: nē istuc tam inīquō patiāre animō.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: haec est inīqua certātiō.[2][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of steep ground.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Uneven, rough, steep (of ground).[2][3]
  2. Unequal; excessive; too small.[2][1]
  3. Ill-matched; one-sided.[2]
  4. unfair, unjust, harsh.[2][1][6]
  5. Prejudiced, hostile.[2][1]
  6. Unfavourable, adverse.[2][1]
  7. inīquō animō: discontentedly, with resentment.[2]
  8. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Wicked, godless.[6]

Noun

  1. An ill-wisher, enemy;[2][6] (Ecclesiastical Latin) an evildoer.[2][6]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson