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invisitatus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word invisitatus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
170–c. 90 BC, Accius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*uid-eh1-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪn.wiː.sɪˈtaː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱ.vi.s̬iˈtaː.tus][1]

Forms

invīsitātus (feminine invīsitāta, neuter invīsitātum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Cicero's manuscripts also have invissitātus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + vīsitātus (“seen, visited”), the negative of the participle of vīsitō.[3][2] That verb goes back to videō (“to see”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *wid-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *uid-eh1- (“to see”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Accius.[5] The OLD's earliest citation is Cicero's De divinatione, of a shape so strange that no one could fail to picture it: forma tam invisitata.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is either not seen, unvisited, as in Vitruvius on the constellations both seen and unseen,[3] or not seen before, unfamiliar, strange or novel.[3][6] Apuleius uses it of powers whose form is unseen though their force is known,[6] and Quintilian's declamations of a city that no one had visited.[6] The TLL notes that it is often confused with inūsitātus and is securely attested in few places.[2]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius.[5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a strange shape.[3][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of unseen stars.[3][6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unseen, invisible; unvisited.[3][6][1]
  2. Not seen before, unfamiliar, strange, novel.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Invisitatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/invisitatus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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