Etymologically
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intrepidus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪnˈtrɛ.pɪ.dʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [inˈtrɛː.pi.dus][1]

Forms

intrepidus (feminine intrepida, neuter intrepidum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + trepidus (“alarmed, anxious”).[2][1][3] Etymonline traces trepidus to Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to tremble”).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ovid,[5] who has Polyxena showing a fearless face to her last moment.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means fearless or undaunted, of people and animals, as Livy's elephants and Tacitus' man unshaken by threats, and of looks, words or actions that show no fear.[2][6] It also means free from anxiety, untroubled, as in Statius, and of conditions secure, as Seneca's undisturbed possession of the past.[2] Lewis & Short note that it is poetic and post-Augustan.[6] English intrepid (1690s) comes from it through French and directly.[4]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a fearless face.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of elephants.[6][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a man standing fearless over a chasm.[2][5]
  • 1690s – English intrepid.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Fearless, undaunted, intrepid; showing no fear.[2][6][1]
  2. Free from anxiety, untroubled.[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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press