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offensus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word offensus

offensus1 offended; offensive

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*gwhen-dh-)
Etymology tree of offensus1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin offendo
Latin offensio
Latin offensus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔfˈfẽː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ofˈfɛn.sus][1]

Forms

offēnsus (feminine offēnsa, neuter offēnsum, comparative offēnsior); first/second-declension participle[2][1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin offendō (“to strike against; to offend”).[2][1][3] De Vaan explains that verb as a compound of an inherited verb ⟨-fendō⟩ “to strike”, kept only in compounds, from Proto-Italic *χw(e)nd- and Proto-Indo-European *gwhen-dh- (“to hit, strike”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[3] who writes of a man he knew to be hostile to himself and very close to Oppianicus.[2]

Semantic evolution

With the dative of a person it means offended, displeased, resentful towards someone.[2] It also means causing offence, odious: in De Inventione Cicero calls an argument offensive that hurts the goodwill of the hearers.[2] Wiktionary also gives the literal sense, struck, hit.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of resentment and of an offensive argument.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Struck, hit.[1]
  2. Offended, displeased, resentful.[2]
  3. Causing offence, odious, offensive.[2][1]

Word family

offensus2 collision

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Latin (offendō)
Etymology tree of offensus2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin offendo
Latin offensio
Latin offensus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔfˈfẽː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ofˈfɛn.sus][1]

Forms

offēnsus m (genitive offēnsūs); fourth declension[2][1]

Etymology

The noun is from Latin offendō (“to strike against”) + -tus.[2][5][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Lucretius,[4][3] who says that without a swerve of the atoms no collision would arise and no blow among the first beginnings.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a striking against, a collision or knock, and concretely what makes one stumble;[2][5] Lewis & Short find it in poetry and post-classical prose.[2][5] Statius uses it of a meeting with arms, and Lucretius, in a disputed reading, of life as a vexation.[5][6] Tertullian also has it.[5] The elder Seneca perhaps uses it of giving offence, but the passage rests on a conjecture.[2]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of colliding atoms.[6][4][3]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius.[5]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A collision, knock, shock; what makes one stumble.[2][5][1]
  2. A meeting with something.[5]
  3. Offence, vexation.[5][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Cite this entry

“Offensus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/offensus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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