obnoxiosus

Forms

obnoxiōsus (feminine obnoxiōsa, neuter obnoxiōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin obnoxius + -ōsus.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is an early word,^[4] found in Plautus and Ennius.^[2][5] In the Trinummus Plautus says that customs have brought the laws under their power, so that the laws are more subject to them than children to their parents (magisque is sunt obnoxiosae quam parentes liberis).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In a tragic fragment of Ennius, which Gellius quotes, aliae res obnoxiosae nocte in obscura latent (“other things, subject, lie hidden in dark night”),^[2][4] the OLD takes it in the same sense, “subject”, while Lewis & Short, Georges and Gaffiot read it there as “harmful, dangerous”.^[2][4][7][8] The form in Ennius rests on a correction by Acidalius; the manuscripts have obnoxio se and obnoxie se.^[6] Plautus also has the comparative adverb obnoxiōsius, “more abjectly”.^[4][9]

Wiktionary treats it as an Old Latin synonym of obnoxius;^[1] Köbler records it again in medieval glosses.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of laws subject to custom.^[2][3]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius has res obnoxiosae in a tragedy.^[2][6][3]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius quotes the line of Ennius.^[4][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Subject, subordinate; submissive, obedient (with the dative).^[2][4][7]
2. Harmful, dangerous (so Lewis & Short and Georges in Ennius).^[4][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell