Etymologically
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seductus

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Forms

sēductus (feminine sēducta, neuter sēductum, comparative sēductior); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēdūcō (“to lead aside”): its past participle, used as an adjective.[1][3][2] That verb is a compound of sē- (“apart”) and dūcō (“to lead”),[1][4] which goes back to Proto-Italic *douk-e- and Proto-Indo-European *deuk-e/o- (“to draw”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Livy,[3] who speaks of the senators' plans held in private and seducta a plurium conscientia, kept from the knowledge of the many.[1][6][2]

Semantic evolution

It means set apart, far away, distant: Manilius and Seneca use it of remote signs in the sky and comets, Persius has paulum a turba seductior audi, “step a little aside from the crowd and listen”, and Statius a mountain rising far into the sky.[1][2] Of places it means retired, secluded, as Ovid's seductos recessus gurgitis, and of people and their way of life withdrawn, as Seneca's seductum vitae genus and Pliny the Younger's secluded, almost rustic men.[1][6][2] Seneca also uses the neuter as a noun, in seducto, in seclusion.[1][6][2] Medieval writers in Britain used it of a remote place and, in Wyclif, in the sense misleading, deceptive.[7]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of plans kept from the many.[1][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of secluded recesses.[1][3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a withdrawn way of life.[1][3]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius has paulum a turba seductior.[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Set apart, far away, distant, remote.[1][6][2]
  2. Of places: retired, secluded; of people and their life: withdrawn.[1][6][2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Misleading, deceptive.[7]

Noun

  1. in sēductō: in seclusion, in solitude.[1][6][2]

Usage notes

Medieval Latin also had a noun sēductus, “seduction, leading astray”, which Köbler records from 1425.[3]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ 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 f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b 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