Etymologically
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iniuratus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪn.juːˈraː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in.juˈraː.tus][1]

Forms

iniūrātus (feminine iniūrāta, neuter iniūrātum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Also spelled injūrātus.[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + iūrātus (“sworn”),[3][1][4] the participle of iūrō (“to swear”).[1] De Vaan explains that verb as made from iūs2 (“oath, law”), Proto-Italic *jowos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ieu-os (“vital force”).[5] Charisius lists it among the passive participles with an active sense.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,[6] in the Amphitruo, where Mercury tells Sosia that Jupiter will believe him unsworn rather than Sosia sworn;[4][3][2] Cicero quotes the line.[4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is “not having taken an oath”, usually against iūrātus: Cicero says he alleges unsworn what sworn witnesses state, and Livy has sworn and unsworn fleeing alike.[2][7] A verse Cicero quotes says “I swore with my tongue; my mind I keep unsworn”.[7][2] Quintilian uses the plural iniūrātī as a noun for unsworn witnesses.[7][6] Church Latin has “unsworn”.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of an unsworn speaker.[4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of unsworn testimony.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of sworn and unsworn soldiers.[2][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of unsworn witnesses.[7][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not having taken an oath, unsworn.[3][2][1]
  2. (plural as noun) Unsworn witnesses.[7]

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 h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson