Etymologically
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inopinatus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.nɔ.piːˈnaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.no.piˈnaː.tus][1]

Forms

inopīnātus (feminine inopīnāta, neuter inopīnātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from in- (“not”) and opīnātus, the participle of opīnor (“to suppose, expect”).[2][1] De Vaan finds no convincing origin for opīnor; its traditional link with optō (“to choose”) is weak in meaning.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in the speeches against Verres, of a thing that befell someone unforeseen and unexpected, and asks whether these things are new and unexpected to him.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It means not expected, unforeseen: Cicero says a story is pleasant that has unexpected outcomes,[2] and Livy writes that something would be neither new nor unexpected to him.[4] Ex inopīnātō is "unexpectedly", as in Seneca, who says anger is not to be judged healthy just because it has sometimes helped unexpectedly.[2] Valerius Maximus appears to use it of people caught off their guard, a town taken unsuspecting and stunned.[2] Stelten gives "unexpected" for Church Latin.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of unexpected events.[4][2]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil.[6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of what is neither new nor unexpected.[4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of ex inopīnātō.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not expected, unexpected, unforeseen;[2][4][1] ex inopīnātō, unexpectedly.[2][4][1]
  2. Off one's guard, unsuspecting.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de