nothus

Forms

nothus (feminine notha, neuter nothum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek νόθος (nóthos, “born out of wedlock to a known father”).^[2][1][3] Beekes calls the Greek word unexplained, possibly Pre-Greek.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first authors are Lucretius and Catullus, both in the transferred sense “not genuine”: they speak of the moon's borrowed light (notho lumine), and Catullus calls Attis “a counterfeit woman” (notha mulier).^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Of persons it meant born out of wedlock, a bastard, but with a known father, unlike spurius, whose father was unknown.^[5][6] Quintilian notes that the Greeks call a child who is not legitimate nothus and that Latin has no word for it.^[5] Virgil uses it of Antiphates, the bastard son of Sarpedon by a Theban mother, and of cross-bred horses;^[2][5][7] Columella and Pliny the Elder also use it of animals of mixed breed.^[2][5][7] Varro calls words of foreign origin made in Latin “bastard” words, and Arnobius speaks of spurious expressions.^[5][6]

British medieval writers use it of illegitimate children, from Bede on, and as a byname of William, duke of Normandy and later king of England; grammarians use it of hybrid Graeco-Latin words.^[8]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the moon's borrowed light.^[5][6][3]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus calls Attis notha mulier.^[2][5][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of hybrid words.^[5][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a bastard son and of cross-bred horses.^[5][7][3]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian notes that Latin has no native word for it.^[5][3]
• early 8th century – Bede uses it of an illegitimate brother of a king.^[8][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Born out of wedlock, illegitimate;^[2][5] (as a noun) a bastard.^[2][5]
2. (of animals) Cross-bred, mongrel.^[2][5]
3. (grammar) Hybrid, partly foreign.^[2][5][8]
4. Not genuine, spurious, counterfeit;^[2][5] (of the moon's light) borrowed.^[2][5]

Related words

• spurius
• legitimus

Usage notes

Roman usage distinguished nothus, a child of a known father outside marriage, from spurius, a child of an unknown father, and both from legitimus, one born in wedlock.^[5][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c 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