molesto

Forms

molestō (present infinitive molestāre, perfect active molestāvī, supine molestātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin molestus (“troublesome, annoying”), with the verbal suffix ⟨-ō⟩.^[2][3][1] A deponent form molestor also occurs.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Scribonius Largus uses it without an object, of something that is seldom very troublesome.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Petronius has it with an object: a character tells another to be quiet or not to annoy his betters (noli molestare).^[6][5] The jurists of the Digest use the passive of not being troubled over a debt,^[4][5] and the Vulgate and Augustine also use it.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it intransitively, “to be troublesome”.^[4][5][7]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of annoying a person.^[6][5][7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it.^[5][7]
• 533 AD – The Digest uses the passive of being troubled over a debt.^[4][5][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To disturb, annoy, worry, to molest.^[2][4]
2. Without an object, to be troublesome.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de