secretus

Forms

sēcrētus (feminine sēcrēta, neuter sēcrētum, comparative sēcrētior, superlative sēcrētissimus); first and second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the participle of sēcernō (“to separate, set apart”), used as an adjective.^[1][2] The verb is formed from sē- (“apart”) and cernō (“to sift, separate”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *krin-e/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to sift, separate”), cognate with Ancient Greek κρίνω (krínō, “to separate, judge”) and Welsh crynu (“to shiver”).^[3] The participle ⟨crētus⟩ replaced an older ⟨certus⟩ (from ⟨*kritos⟩), which became an independent adjective.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it from Plautus on, in the sense “separate, withdrawn”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is existing apart, separate: Lucretius' atoms are “apart from” heat and cold, and Livy's Tarquin mixed the Latin and Roman maniples so that the Latins should have no separate command.^[1] Of people it is withdrawn, by oneself (Catullus: a flower that grows sēcrētus in a walled garden), and of places remote and secluded (Virgil: Anchises' house, set back among trees).^[1] Of acts and speech it is private, unofficial, confidential (Sallust: Jugurtha settled the rest in secret with Bestia and Scaurus), and finally secret, hidden: Livy's sēcrēta cōnsilia and unavowed hopes.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “secret, separate, remote, retired, solitary, in private”, with the adverb sēcrētō and the noun sēcrētum, “a secret, mystery, solitude, retreat”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, its first recorded use.^[3][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius in the sense “apart from”.^[1][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a secluded house.^[1][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a separate command and of secret plans.^[1][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Separate, apart; independent; special.^[1][5]
2. Withdrawn, by oneself; solitary.^[1][5]
3. (of places) Remote, secluded.^[1][5]
4. Private, unofficial; confidential.^[1][5]
5. secret, hidden.^[1][5]

Related words

• sēcernō
• cernō
• sēcrētum
• sēcrētō

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson