Etymologically
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neglegentia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [nɛɡ.ɫɛˈɡeːn.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [neɡ.leˈd͡ʒɛn.t͡si.a][1]

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]

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