Etymologically
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nequam

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈneː.kʷãː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈnɛː.kʷam][1]

Forms

nēquam (indeclinable, comparative nēquior, superlative nēquissimus)[2][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nē (“not”) + quam (“how”), a phrase “in no way” used as an adjective.[3][2][4] The comparative ⟨nēquior⟩ and the superlative ⟨nēquissimus⟩ were formed as if from a stem ⟨*nēquo-⟩.[4] The older explanation, still in Lewis & Short, takes it from ⟨ne aequam⟩ “not fair”, from aequus;[5][1] Wiktionary allows that this may have influenced it.[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Naevius.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Of things it means worthless or useless, as Plautus' fish that is no good unless fresh.[2][5] Of people it is morally worthless, a scoundrel, and in early Latin it was often used of slaves;[2] dare nequam alicui is to make mischief for someone.[2] In a mild or playful use it means naughty or roguish, often in erotic contexts, as when a Plautine lover calls himself a rascal for having fallen in love that day.[2] The noun nēquitia and the adverb nēquiter were formed from it.[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “wicked, evil, worthless”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius.[3][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of worthless fish and of scoundrels.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of things, worthless, useless, bad.[2][5][1]
  2. Of persons, morally worthless, depraved, vile;[2][5][1] dare nequam alicui, to make mischief for someone.[2][5][1]
  3. In playful use, naughty, roguish.[2]

Word family

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 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 d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson