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intemptatus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word intemptatus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
65–8 BC, Horace
Ultimate origin
Latin (temptō)

Forms

intemptātus (feminine intemptāta, neuter intemptātum); first/second-declension adjective[1] The spelling intentātus is found too, mostly in poorer or later manuscripts.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + temptātus (“tried”),[3][1] the participle of temptō (“to touch, try”).[3][2] The TLL reports the view that Horace formed it on a Greek model.[2] De Vaan explains the verb as an iterative built on an old participle Proto-Italic *t(e)mp-to- (“touched”), probably from the root Proto-Indo-European *temp- (“to stretch”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Horace, Virgil and Ovid on;[2] Conte's first reference is Horace's Ars poetica.[5] In Virgil haec intemptāta manēbat sors rērum, “this turn of fortune was still untried”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means unattempted, untried,[3][5] and is used of land or roads that no one has gone through, as the sea in Seneca the Elder and roads in Tacitus,[3][5] and Frontinus has a forest intemptāta ante mīlitī nostrō, “never before entered by our soldiers”.[5] Pliny the Elder uses it of things not yet tried out,[3] Gellius of marvels that Latin writers had left almost untouched,[5] and Valerius Maximus and Tacitus in the sense “not attacked”, as Seneca does of goods out of fortune's reach.[3][5] Medieval writers in Britain used it of what was not tried and of a road that an army had not tried.[6] It survives in intentato.[5]

Timeline

  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Ars poetica.[2][5][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Aeneid.[3][2][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of things not yet tried.[3][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a road not yet used and in the sense “unassailed”.[5][7]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of subjects untouched by writers.[5][7]
  • Medieval Latin – Orderic Vitalis uses it of a route an army had not tried.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unattempted, untried.[3][5][1]
  2. Of land, roads, the sea: not yet passed through or penetrated.[3][5]
  3. Not yet tried out or used.[3]
  4. Not attacked, unassailed.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 m 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 k l m Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b 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
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Intemptatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/intemptatus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·