Etymologically
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iratus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [iːˈraː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈraː.tus][1]

Forms

īrātus (feminine īrāta, neuter īrātum, comparative īrātior, superlative īrātissimus, adverb iratē); first/second-declension participle[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin īra (“anger”) + -ātus, and was later taken as the participle of īrāscor (“to grow angry”), which arose from it by back-formation.[2][1][3] īra goes back to Proto-Italic *eisā- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eis-h₂- (“anger”);[3] Plautus spells it ⟨eira⟩.[3]

Compare Avestan aēšma- (“wrath”) and Ancient Greek οἶμα (oîma, “rush”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[4] who has omitte īrātus esse, “stop being angry”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Īrātus is “angry, enraged, furious”, especially with a dative of the person one is angry with.[2][1] Church Latin glosses it “angry”.[5] English irate comes from it in 1838.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: omitte īrātus esse.[2][4]
  • 1838 – Borrowed into English as irate.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. angry, enraged, furious.[2][1][5]

Word family

  • perīrātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com