inusitatus

Forms

inūsitātus (feminine inūsitāta, neuter inūsitātum, comparative inūsitātior); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + ūsitātus (“customary”).^[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of ūtor (“to use”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *oit-e/o- (“to use”) and, with a question mark, Proto-Indo-European *h₃eit- (“to take along”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucilius.^[3][4] Lewis & Short quote Accius, through Nonius, for an unfamiliar human appearance.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

It is the unusual and unfamiliar: Caesar calls a way of making war new and unheard of, Cicero writes of extraordinary size and charm.^[5] Köbler finds it in medieval councils, charters and glossaries too.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[3][4]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of an unfamiliar human form.^[5][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of a new way of waging war.^[5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of extraordinary size.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Unusual, unwonted, uncommon, strange.^[2][5][1]

Related words

• ūsitātus
• ūtor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press