Etymologically
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securus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [seːˈkuː.rʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [seˈkuː.rus][1]

Forms

sēcūrus (feminine sēcūra, neuter sēcūrum, comparative sēcūrior, adverb sēcūrē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin se- (“without”) + cura (“care”), with the ending -us.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, in the speech for Flaccus, says Hermippus set out for Temnus untroubled.[2][4] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It first meant free from fears or anxieties, easy in mind, and of circumstances calm and peaceful.[2][3] It meant confident or sure of something, as in Lucan.[2] In a bad sense it was careless, negligent, nonchalant: Virgil says Pygmalion killed Sychaeus, careless of his sister's love.[2][3] From Velleius on it also meant free from danger, safe, and in law immune from penalty.[2] Döderlein contrasts tūtus, actually safe, with sēcūrus, one who feels safe.[6]

In medieval Latin it meant exempt.[7] English secure is recorded in the 1530s as “without care or fear”.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a man setting out untroubled.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of carelessness.[2][5]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of legal immunity.[2][5]
  • 1530s – English secure is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Free from care, untroubled, calm.[2][3]
  2. Confident, sure.[2]
  3. Careless, negligent, indifferent.[2][1]
  4. Free from danger, safe, secure.[2][1]
  5. (law) Immune from penalty, (Medieval Latin) exempt.[2][7]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com