pollutus

Forms

pollūtus (feminine pollūta, neuter pollūtum, comparative pollūtior, superlative pollūtissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin polluō (“to defile, pollute”).^[1][2] De Vaan analyses the verb as a compound of *por- and a verb from Proto-Indo-European *l(H)u- (“to soil”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest passage is in Sallust's Jugurtha, of conduct, a “corrupt” licence that would stir up ill will; the sense is morally corrupt.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

It was said of people as morally corrupt or depraved: Silius Italicus has an old age “more polluted” than the youth whose faults it increases, and Tacitus and Apuleius use the superlative of wicked men.^[1] Lucan and Gellius apply it to actions and arts.^[1] Fronto uses it of a debased, corrupt style of speech.^[1]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of a corrupt licence.^[1][2]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus speaks of a depraved ruler.^[1][2]
• 100–170 AD – Fronto uses it of a corrupt style.^[1][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Morally corrupt, depraved (of people and of actions).^[1]
2. (of style) Debased, corrupt.^[1]

Related words

• polluo
• pollutio

Usage notes

The TLL lists separately a rare noun pollūtus (fourth declension), meaning the same as pollūtiō, found once in a work falsely ascribed to Augustine.^[4]

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften