iniuriosus

Forms

iniūriōsus (feminine iniūriōsa, neuter iniūriōsum, comparative iniūriōsior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iniūria (“injustice, wrong”) + -ōsus.^[2][1][3] The TLL allows that it may be formed from iniūrius (“unjust”) instead, and compares periūriōsus.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in the Rhetorica ad Herennium,^[5] which defines avarice as a wrongful desire for the goods of others.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Cicero has it of people who wrong others: those who would be more generous than their means allow, he says in the De officiis, are unjust to their nearest kin;^[2] he also speaks of a wrongful and criminal life.^[7][6] With the elder Seneca it means insulting, of the crowd that pours into a brothel,^[2] and a speaker in Horace expects to be borne away as dry ashes by insulting winds (iniūriōsīs ventīs).^[6][8] Pliny the Elder uses it of a blow that damages vines,^[2] and the superlative is found in Augustine of abusive words.^[9]

Medieval Latin used it of unjust or high-handed people, of harmful animals and of unjustified claims;^[10] a British charter of 918 calls anyone who challenges a grant an iniūriōsus contradictor.^[11] Niermeyer gives the sense offensive.^[12] English took injurious in the early 15th century from Old French and directly from Latin.^[13]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium defines avarice with it.^[6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of people unjust to their kin.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of harsh winds.^[8][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a damaging blow.^[2][5]
• 918 – A British charter uses it of a wrongful challenger.^[11]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as injurious, partly through Old French.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Acting unjustly, wrongful, showing no respect for others' rights.^[2][7]
2. Insulting, offensive.^[2][12]
3. Causing harm, injurious, damaging.^[2][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Unjustified;^[10][11] (as a noun) a wrong.^[10][11]

Related words

• iniūria
• iniūrius
• English injurious

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com