neglegentia

Forms

neglegēntia f (genitive neglegēntiae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled neclegentia;^[2][3] Lewis and Short prefer neglegentia to negligentia.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin neglegēns + -ia, from the participle of neglegō (“to neglect”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains the verb as a fairly recent compound of legō (“to gather”), with the sense passing from “gather” to “watch out for, care for”; ⟨legō⟩ goes back to Proto-Italic *leg-e- and Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-e/o- (“to collect”), cognate with Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to gather, count, speak”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^[4][5] Its sense is lack of care, carelessness or neglect.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is carelessness, heedlessness or neglect, as Cicero's pairing of negligence, sloth and inactivity.^[2][3] Wiktionary also gives the senses of coldness or brevity, as in a careless letter, and of disrespect.^[1]

Church Latin keeps it as “negligence, neglect, carelessness”.^[6] In British Medieval Latin it occurs in the phrase neglegentiam facere, to act negligently.^[7] Italian negghienza is inherited from it, and the French and Spanish words for negligence are borrowed from it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – First recorded in Plautus.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero beside sloth and inactivity.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of care, carelessness, heedlessness, negligence, neglect.^[2][3][1][6]
2. Coldness, curtness.^[1]
3. Disrespect.^[1]

Related words

• neglegō
• legō
• dīligentia
• intellegentia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b 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