nefas

Forms

nefās n (indeclinable)^[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from ne- (“not”) and fās (“divine law, what is right”), probably from a phrase ⟨*ne fās est⟩ “it is not right”.^[2][3][1] De Vaan derives fās from Proto-Italic *faos and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-os (“saying, utterance”); it first lived only in ⟨fās est⟩, “the saying exists”, hence “it is right”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler first records it in Accius,^[5] and de Vaan in Varro.^[4] Cicero reports a matter referred to the pontiffs, who decreed it nefās, “contrary to divine law”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Nefās is “an offence against divine law, an impious act, sacrilege”, usually in the predicate (nefās est, “it is sinful”), and in calendars it marks days when no public business could be done.^[2][6][1] It is then any offence against moral law, “a crime, wicked act” (Cicero: a man to whom nothing was ever forbidden), and fās atque nefās is “right and wrong” (Virgil: fās versum atque nefās).^[2][6] In poetry it is a portent, a horror, and in parenthesis “oh horror!” (Catullus: Trōia (nefās!) commūne sepulcrum Asiae Eurōpaeque), and also a wicked person or a plague (Virgil: Aeneas will be praised for having destroyed nefās, Helen).^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “wrong, crime, sin, wickedness”.^[7] Lewis & Short compare scelus, flāgitium and peccātum.^[6]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the pontiffs' decree.^[2][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus: Trōia (nefās!).^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: fās versum atque nefās.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An offence against divine law, sacrilege, (nefās est) it is sinful.^[2][6][1][7]
2. A crime, wicked act, (fās atque nefās) right and wrong.^[2][6][1][7]
3. A horror, portent, (parenthetical) oh horror!^[2]
4. A wicked person; a plague.^[2]

Word family

• nefārius
• nefāstus

Related words

• fās
• scelus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson