Etymologically
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inornatus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.noːrˈnaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.norˈnaː.tus][1]

Forms

inōrnātus (feminine inōrnāta, neuter inōrnātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + ōrnātus1 (“adorned”),[1][2] the participle of ōrnō (“to adorn”) with the negative prefix.[3] De Vaan takes ōrnō to be the original verb made from ōrdō (“row, order”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero's rhetorical works and Horace on;[2] in the Orator Cicero says that some women are thought to look well without adornment, inornatae, since that very thing suits them.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also uses it of plain style, calling Lysias tenuis atque inornatus,[5] and Quintilian also uses it of style.[5][3] Horace uses it of plain, ordinary words,[5] Tibullus and Ovid of dishevelled hair,[3][5] and Horace of a man left uncelebrated in verse: non ego te meis chartis inornatum sileri … patiar.[3][5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of unadorned women and a plain style.[3][5][6]
  • c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus uses it of an unkempt head.[3][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of plain words and of a man not celebrated in poetry.[3][5][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of style.[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unadorned, plain; of language or style, simple, without ornament.[3][5]
  2. Not properly arranged, dishevelled (of hair).[3]
  3. Not honoured, uncelebrated.[3][1]

Word family

  • inōrnātē

Usage notes

Lewis and Short give incomptus as a synonym.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de