iniustitia

Forms

iniūstitia f (genitive iniūstitiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iniūstus (“unjust”) + -ia.^[2][3] The adjective is a compound of in- (“not”) and iūstus (“just”),^[4][1] which de Vaan explains as a derivative of iūs² (“law”), tracing the noun to an s-stem going back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂oi-u (“vital force, eternity”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it once in Plautus,^[3][6] who in the Mercator speaks of the “faithlessness and injustice of pimps” (perfidiam, iniustitiam lenonum).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Terence uses it twice, once of a man's harshness, which the TLL glosses as inhumanity.^[3][7] Cicero has it often in his philosophical works and calls it the opposite of iūstitia, justice; in the De officiis he distinguishes two kinds of injustice.^[3][7] After the comic poets it no longer appears in poetry.^[3] From Tertullian on it is frequent, especially in the scriptures and church writers, although Jerome preferred inīquitās in his translations;^[3][7] Lactantius has the plural, “injustices”.^[3][7] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means injustice, sin or iniquity,^[8] and in medieval Latin also a wrong or prejudice done to someone, and an act of violence.^[9] Through Old French it gave English injustice in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of the injustice of pimps.^[3][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a man's harshness.^[3][7][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero defines it as the opposite of justice.^[3][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it in biblical quotations.^[3][6]
• Medieval Latin – It means a wrong done to someone, or an assault.^[9]
• late 14th century – English borrows injustice through Old French.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Unjust behaviour, unfairness, injustice.^[2][7]
2. Harshness, severity.^[7][3]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Sin, iniquity.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A wrong, prejudice; an act of violence, assault.^[9]

Related words

• iniūria
• English injustice

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill