Etymologically
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modestus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [mɔˈdɛs.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [moˈdɛs.tus][1]

Forms

modestus (feminine modesta, neuter modestum, comparative modestior, superlative modestissimus, adverb modestē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from the same root as modus “measure” but not from that noun directly: it implies a neuter ⟨s⟩-stem *modos, *modes-, from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”), with the suffix -tus, as scelestus beside scelus.[1][2][3] Cognate with Umbrian mersto.[1] The same stem is seen in moderor.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of restrained persons and conduct.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant restrained, temperate, mild, as in Plautus, and of natural things calm, as quiet pools.[2] From Cicero it meant orderly, well-behaved, respecting propriety, decorous, modest, especially of women, and in Pliny unassuming.[2] Lewis and Short describe it as keeping due measure, calm in anger, kind to others.[5] Nonius derived it from modicus.[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant moderate, temperate, mild, modest, calm, sober.[6] British Medieval Latin used it of restrained men and of mild natural phenomena.[7] English modest came in the 1560s through French modeste.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the restrained.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the orderly and the modest.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of the unassuming.[2][4]
  • 1560s – English modest is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Restrained, temperate, mild.[2]
  2. Orderly, well-behaved.[2]
  3. Decorous, modest.[2]
  4. Unassuming.[2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com