Etymologically
Log in

ironicus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 07:50. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

īrōnicus (feminine īrōnica, neuter īrōnicum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2] Often spelled hironicus, hyronicus or yronicus in the manuscripts.[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek εἰρωνικός (eirōnikós, “dissembling, ironical”),[4][3][5] from εἴρων (eírōn, “dissembler”), whose further origin is unclear.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Fulgentius' Mythologies, in the sense “mocking, ironical”.[3][1][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL glosses it as “mocking”, and an ancient glossary uses it as a noun for scoffers and detractors.[3] The adverb ironice is commoner, in Servius and the scholia on Horace and Terence.[3]

In medieval British Latin it meant “ironical, sarcastic” and also “pretended, feigned”;[5] Matthew Paris speaks of a king's ironical speech.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 500 AD – Fulgentius uses it for a mocking expression.[3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Ironical, mocking.[3][1][2]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Sarcastic.[5]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Pretended, feigned.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  2. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press