Etymologically
Log in

invisus

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word invisus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
190–159 BC, Terence
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*weyd-)

Forms

invīsus (feminine invīsa, neuter invīsum, comparative invīsior, superlative invīsissimus or invīsissumus, adverb invīsē or invīsiter); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is the perfect passive participle of invideō (“to envy, begrudge”), used as an adjective.[2][3][4] invideō is in- and videō (“to see”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *wid-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *wid-eh₁- (“to see”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler first records it in Terence,[4] who has invīsōs nōs esse illīs, “that we are hateful to them”.[6]

Semantic evolution

Invīsus is “hated, hateful, odious, disliked”, of persons (Cicero of a pimp: persōna lutulenta, impūra, invīsa) and of things (Horace: invīsās cupressōs, the funeral cypresses), often with a dative (Sallust: omnibus invīsus, Virgil: Helen sat at the altar invīsa, hated by all).[2][6][7] Its opposites are grātus and cārus.[7] In Virgil it is also “hostile, ill-disposed”.[6]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence: invīsōs nōs esse illīs.[6][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: persōna … invīsa.[7][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of Helen at the altar.[6][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. hated, hateful, odious.[2][6][7]
  2. Hostile, ill-disposed.[6]

Usage notes

A separate adjective invīsus, formed from in- “not” and the participle of videō, means “unseen”: Cato speaks of a disease invīsus, “not seen before”, and Cicero of rites maribus nōn invīsa sōlum sed etiam inaudīta, “not only unseen by men but unheard of”.[2][3][7][4] Apuleius and Church writers use it for “invisible”.[7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
  7. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
Cite this entry

“Invisus.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/invisus. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·