odium

Forms

odium n (genitive odiī or odī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *odio- (“hatred”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃e/od-io- (“hatred”), from the same root as the verb ōdī “I hate”, which continues a perfect.^[2] Wiktionary adds that the ⟨d⟩ was restored under the influence of that verb.^[1]

Cognate with Oscan oiim,^[1] Ancient Greek ὀδύσσασθαι (odússasthai, “to be angry, grumble”), Old Norse etja and Old English atol (“evil”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus (c. 250–184 BC) already uses it for aversion and hatred, and in a weaker sense for weariness or annoyance.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the start it could also mean the state of being hated, unpopularity, as in Terence, and by metonymy the hated person or thing, as in Plautus' odium, nōn uxor, eram (Asinaria 927), “I was a hate, not a wife”.^[3] Cicero defines it as īra inveterāta, “anger grown old”.^[5] In the plural it named particular feelings or acts of hatred, and set phrases such as in odiō esse “to be hated” and in odium venīre “to incur hatred” were common.^[3]

Medieval writers kept the classical uses, with odiō habēre “to hate”.^[6] English took odium around 1600 in the sense “the fact of being hated”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for hatred, for a hated person and for boredom.^[3][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for the condition of being hated.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero defines it as anger grown old.^[5][4]
• c. 1600 – English borrows it as odium.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Hatred, aversion, dislike, ill will.^[3][5]
2. (plural) Particular feelings or manifestations of hatred; feuds.^[3]
3. The condition of being hated; unpopularity.^[3][1]
4. (metonymy) An object of hatred.^[3][1]
5. (weaker sense) Weariness, boredom, impatience; importunate behaviour.^[3][1]

Word family

• odiōsus

Related words

• ōdī
• English odium

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes odium, a deep-rooted hatred of persons or things, from invidia, a passing ill will towards persons that may turn into it, and both feelings from the outward enmity of inimīcitia and simultās.^[8] Servius notes that the o is short in the noun but long in the verb ōdī.^[9] A rare odium “bad smell”, for odor, occurs in Cyprianus Gallus, and odium is also a spelling of ōdēum “music hall”.^[9][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften