Etymologically
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obscenitas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔpˈskeː.nɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [obˈʃɛː.ni.tas][1]

Forms

obscēnitās f (genitive obscēnitātis); third declension[1] It is also spelled obscaenitās and obscoenitās.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin obscēnus (“ill-omened; indecent”) + -tās.[2][4][1] De Vaan takes the spelling ⟨obscaenus⟩ as the original form of the adjective and finds worth considering its analysis as “coming from the left side”, from Proto-Italic *skai-no- (“left, unpropitious”), the root of scaevus (“left”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium on, which speaks of avoiding obscenity.[4][2] Cicero has turpissima obscēnitās verbōrum, “most shameful obscenity of words”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant indecency of language, and then indecent behaviour.[2][3] Quintilian warns that obscenity must be absent not only from the words but from their meaning,[3] and Suetonius tells of a Roman knight accused of indecency towards women.[2][3] The TLL notes that among poets only Phaedrus uses it.[4]

Later writers took it concretely: Pliny the Elder has the plural for obscene figures on drinking cups, and Arnobius uses it for the genitals and for the inauspiciousness of a bad omen.[3] The English word obscenity came from it through French.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of obscene language.[2][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses the plural for obscene figures.[3][7]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of indecent conduct.[2][7]
  • 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it for an ill omen and for the genitals.[3][7]
  • 1580s – English borrows it, through French, as obscenity.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Indecency, obscenity of language.[2][3]
  2. Indecent or lewd behaviour, unchastity.[2][3]
  3. (concrete) An obscene thing; the genitals;[3] (plural) obscene figures.[3]
  4. (Late Latin) Inauspiciousness, the quality of a bad omen.[3][1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de