Etymologically
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inscius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈĩː.ski.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈin̠ʲ.ʃi.us][1]

Forms

īnscius (feminine īnscia, neuter īnscium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from in- and sciō (“to know”) with the adjective ending -us, beside scius (“knowing”) and nescius (“not knowing”).[2][3][4] De Vaan thinks ⟨sciō⟩ is probably a back-formation from nesciō, from Proto-Italic *skije/o- (“to know”) and perhaps Proto-Indo-European *skh1-i(e/o)- (“to incise”), if “to know” developed from “to distinguish, decide”; cognate with Ancient Greek σχάω (skháō, “to slit open”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,[3] who has “without my knowledge, against my expectation, unaware”.[2] Lewis and Short note that Plautus and Terence do not use it, preferring īnsciēns.[5]

Semantic evolution

It means “not knowing, unaware, unwitting”, often with a genitive of what is not known, and “ignorant, unskilled”, as Cicero's question how one can tell the artist from the unskilled.[2][5] In Apuleius it is passive, “unknown”, of an unfamiliar path.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “not knowing, ignorant, unaware”.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of acting unawares and of the unskilled.[2][3]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of an unknown path.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not knowing, unaware, ignorant.[2][5][1][6]
  2. Unskilled, inexperienced.[2][1]
  3. Unknown, unfamiliar.[2][1]

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 i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson