Etymologically
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probrosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prɔˈbroː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈbrɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

probrōsus (feminine probrōsa, neuter probrōsum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin probrum (“disgrace, reproach”) + -ōsus.[2][1][3] De Vaan explains probrum as an old adjective ⟨*pro-fro-⟩, from Proto-Italic *pro-fr-o- and the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰr- (“to bring”), meaning "what is brought up against someone" as a reproach.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[5] who uses it in the speech for Fonteius of a disgraceful charge.[6]

Semantic evolution

It means bringing disgrace, shameful: Horace calls Carthage great, raised higher by the shameful ruin of Italy.[2][6] Of persons it is disreputable: Suetonius' Domitian took away from disreputable women the right to use litters, and Tacitus speaks of a man disgraceful in his life and covered with infamy.[2][6] It also means abusive, as Seneca's insults and abusive words, to be borne like the shouting of an enemy.[2] Pliny the Elder has the comparative, Tertullian and others the superlative.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a disgraceful charge.[6][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of Italy's shameful ruin.[2]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of abusive words.[2]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of disreputable women.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Bringing reproach, shameful, disgraceful, ignominious.[2][6][1]
  2. (of persons) Disreputable, infamous.[2][6]
  3. Abusive, opprobrious.[2]

Word family

  • probrositas

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press