noxia

Forms

noxia f (genitive noxiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The OLD treats it as a variant of noxa (“harm, offence”),^[2] and Wiktionary takes it either as that or as the noun use of the adjective noxius (“harmful; guilty”).^[1] De Vaan allows both: ⟨noxia⟩ can be the feminine of ⟨noxius⟩, and all these words can be derived from ⟨noxa⟩, a noun built on an older s-present beside noceō (“to harm”).^[3] That verb is inherited from Proto-Italic *nokeje- (“to cause death”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *noḱ-eie- (“to make disappear, cause death”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from the Twelve Tables.^[3][4] In Plautus a slave complains of being beaten for no wrongdoing at all (ob nullam noxiam).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is an offence or wrongdoing, often the ground of a charge;^[2] in the jurists it is the damage done by a slave or an animal, for which the owner answered, as with noxa.^[2] From the Augustan age it also meant harm or injury in general, as done by a disease, and the power to do harm.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.^[3][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a slave's misdeeds.^[2][4]
• 1st century AD – Manilius uses it of the harmful power of a sign of the zodiac.^[2][4]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of an offence committed by a slave.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Wrongdoing, an offence, a fault.^[2][5]
2. (law) An offence committed by a slave or an animal, for which the owner is liable.^[2]
3. Harm, damage, injury.^[2][1]
4. The power to harm.^[2]

Word family

• noxiālis
• noxiōsus

Related words

• noceō
• noxa
• noxālis
• noxietās
• noxitūdō
• noxius

Usage notes

Lewis & Short treat it under noxius, as that adjective used as a noun.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press