segniter

Forms

sēgniter (comparative sēgnius, superlative sēgnissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēgnis (“slow, inactive”) + -ter.^[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sēk/g-ni- for sēgnis, an adjective in ⟨-ni-⟩ like lēnis and omnis; its root may be that of Ancient Greek ἦκα (êka, “slightly, softly”) and ἥττων (hḗttōn, “weaker”), or, if these are kept apart, Proto-Indo-European *seg- (“to adhere, stick”), with “sticky” becoming “inert”, but the long vowel is unexplained either way.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest quotation is from a speech of Cato, who says that the censors would strive for the state segnius atque timidius, “more slackly and timidly”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It means without spirit or energy, half-heartedly, slackly, a sense common in Livy, Velleius, Pliny the Elder and Tacitus.^[2][4] It also means without strength, feebly, as in Horace's remark that what enters through the ear segnius irritant animos, “stirs the mind more feebly”, than what the eyes see.^[2] With a negative the comparative became a fixed phrase: nihilo segnius, “no less actively, with undiminished vigour”, is found in Cicero, Sallust, Nepos, Curtius, Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, and haud segnius quam, “no less actively than”, in Ovid and Apuleius.^[2]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses the comparative segnius in a speech.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has nihilo segnius.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of what stirs the mind feebly.^[2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it often of slack action.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Without spirit or energy, half-heartedly, slackly, lazily.^[2][1]
2. Without strength, feebly.^[2]
3. nihilo segnius, haud segnius (quam): no less actively (than), with undiminished vigour.^[2]

Related words

• sēgnis
• sēgnitia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de