Etymologically
Log in

notorius

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 14:15. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [noːˈtoː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [noˈtɔː.ri.us][1]

Forms

nōtōrius (feminine nōtōria, neuter nōtōrium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is an adjective in ⟨-tōrius⟩.[1] Georges, Gaffiot and Köbler derive it from notō (“to mark, note”);[2][3][4] L&S from a noun nōtor,[5] and Wiktionary connects it with nōscō (“to get to know”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Apuleius, as the noun notōria, a report: his narrator speaks of the man who had brought a false report about him (qui falsam de me notoriam pertulerat).[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant “giving notice, making known”, and was used almost only as a noun: notōria (a letter of) notice or information, and notōrium an information laid against someone, a denunciation, in the jurists and Christian writers.[5][2] The Digest speaks of informers who denounce people per notoria indicia.[5]

In Medieval Latin it came to mean the reverse, “known to all, notorious, proved by common knowledge”,[6][1] and in Ecclesiastical Latin “widely known”, with the adverb notōriē.[7] Niccolò Perotti notes that what is called manifestarius is commonly said notorius, and Albrecht von Eyb uses it of facts so well known that rumour has spread them through Bamberg.[8] English borrowed the Medieval Latin word as notorious in the 1540s.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses notōria for a report.[5][2][4]
  • c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses notōrium.[5][4]
  • 533 AD – The Digest speaks of denunciations per notoria indicia.[5][4]
  • 1540s – English borrows it as notorious, “publicly known and spoken of”.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin) Giving notice, making known; mostly as a noun (notōria, notōrium) a notice, report, or denunciation.[5][2][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Evident, well known, notorious; proved by common knowledge.[6][1][7][8]

Word family

  • nōtōria

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com