reprobus

Forms

reprobus (feminine reproba, neuter reprobum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Latin reprobō (“to reject, condemn”), made by taking the adjectival ending ⟨-us⟩ in place of the verb's ending.^[2][3][1] The TLL describes it as formed from the verb backwards, with no comparative or superlative attested.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Tertullian and Ulpian on.^[3] Tertullian uses the masculine plural as a noun for the damned,^[4] and Ulpian speaks of reproba pecunia, money rejected as below standard.^[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was commercial: coins or money refused because they were base or false.^[2][6] The word then spread mainly through the Bible and Church writers,^[3] where it renders Ancient Greek ἀδόκιμος (adókimos): the Vulgate has argentum reprobum “rejected silver” and men reprobi circa fidem “worthless as to the faith”.^[7][5] Ecclesiastical Latin used it for what is false, blameworthy or good for nothing, and as a noun for a castaway.^[8]

Medieval Latin kept both lines: worthless, waste goods, and the reprobate, damned soul.^[9] British sources apply it to things below standard, to base money, and to persons judged unfit for an office.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses reprobi for the damned.^[4][3][11]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian, in the Digest, writes of reproba pecunia, money refused as base.^[2][5][11]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of rejected silver and of men worthless in faith.^[7][5][11]
• c. 1090 – Anselm sets a consilium reprobum against God's eternal counsel.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of money) Rejected as below standard; base, counterfeit.^[2][5][6]
2. (Late Latin) Spurious, worthless, reprehensible.^[5][8][7]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Rejected by God, reprobate, damned; as a noun, a castaway.^[4][8][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) Below standard, unfit, especially of a person rejected for an office.^[10][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de