Etymologically
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pudor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpʊ.dɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpuː.dor][1]

Forms

pudor m (genitive pudōris); third declension[1] A fourth-century inscription has podor.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin pudeō + -or, from the verb “to be ashamed” (impersonal ⟨pudet⟩ “it shames”).[3][4][2][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *pudē- (“to be ashamed, shy”) but finds no secure etymology: Walde–Hofmann compared paviō “to strike”, Ernout and Meillet hesitantly Proto-Indo-European *spewd- (“to press, hurry”), which is not otherwise found without ⟨s-⟩, and paveō “to be frightened” is another possible connection.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] who has ubi pudendum est, ibi eōs dēserit pudor, “where there is cause for shame, their shame deserts them”.[3] Köbler cites it from Ennius.[6]

Semantic evolution

Pudor is a feeling of shame at a particular act, and more generally the sense of what is seemly, “decency, restraint, modesty” (the general idea, while pudīcitia is chastity in particular).[3][4][1] It also means one's honour or self-respect, then a cause of shame, “disgrace”, and in exclamations prō pudor! “for shame!”.[3][1] Wiktionary also gives “a blush” and the personified Shame or Modesty.[1]

Church Latin glosses it “purity, modesty, decency, shame, disgrace”.[7] In Medieval Latin it can mean an insult or affront.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ubi pudendum est, ibi eōs dēserit pudor;[3][6] sī in tē pudor adsit, nōn mē appellēs, “if you had any decency you would not call on me”.[3][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a humiliation, “not without disgrace”.[3][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace: ō pudor! ō magna Karthāgō, “oh shame! oh great Carthage”.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. shame, a feeling of shame.[3][4][1][7]
  2. Sense of propriety, decency, modesty, restraint.[3][4][1][7]
  3. Honour, self-respect.[3]
  4. A source of shame, disgrace, humiliation.[3][1][7]
  5. prō pudor!, ō pudor!, for shame![3]
  6. A blush.[1]
  7. (Medieval Latin) An insult, affront.[8]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill