Etymologically
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pestilens

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Forms

pestilēns (genitive pestilentis); third-declension one-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pestis (“plague, pestilence”).[2][3][4] The TLL groups it with adjectives in ⟨-lent(o)-⟩ that vary between two forms, such as ⟨violēns⟩ beside ⟨violentus⟩; some refer Laevius' plural ⟨pestilenta⟩ to a form pestilentus, but it could be made from ⟨pestilēns⟩ as poets made ⟨silenta⟩ from ⟨silēns⟩.[2] The OLD compares that form, and Wiktionary takes this adjective as probably a back-formation from it.[5][1] De Vaan finds no convincing etymology for pestis.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,[6] who writes of building in an unhealthy place.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is first said of places full of disease, unhealthy, opposed to healthy ones;[5][4] Cicero speaks of an unhealthy house and of the heavy, pestilent exhalation of the air.[5][4] Livy calls a year pestilent for the city and a summer for animals, and Horace the south-west wind.[4] The declamations ascribed to Quintilian use it of the plague-stricken.[5] By extension it is pernicious or disastrous, of persons or things: Cicero calls a year most grievous and pestilent.[5]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of an unhealthy place.[5][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro.[3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of pestilent air.[5][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of the south-west wind.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Full of disease, unhealthy, pestilential; plague-stricken.[5][4][1]
  2. Dangerous to life or health, noxious.[5][1]
  3. Pernicious, disastrous.[5][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ 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