libidinose

Forms

libīdinōsē^[1][2] The older spelling lubīdinōsē is also found.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin libīdinōsus (“wilful, wanton”) + -ē.^[1][3] That adjective is formed from libīdō (“desire”),^[3] which de Vaan lists among the derivatives of libet (“it is pleasing”); the verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *lubʰ-eh₁- (“to please”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[3][5] who in the Verrines speaks of many acts done wantonly and many cruelly against Roman citizens.^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

It means acting at one's own whim, arbitrarily or wantonly, without restraint.^[1][5] Cicero says that the decemvirs ruled the people wantonly, harshly and greedily,^[1] Sallust uses it of killing good and bad alike at whim, and Livy of the harsh and arbitrary treatment of humbler citizens.^[1] The TLL glosses it with incontinenter and arbitrarie.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of wanton acts against Roman citizens.^[1][3]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of killing at whim.^[1][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of arbitrary treatment of the humble.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Arbitrarily, capriciously, wantonly; at one's whim.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften