sincerus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [sɪŋˈkeː.rʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [sin̠ʲˈt͡ʃɛː.rus]^[1]

Forms

sincērus (feminine sincēra, neuter sincērum, comparative sincērior, adverb sincērē or sincēriter); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It goes back to Proto-Italic *sm-kair/so- (“whole, intact”), a compound whose first part is the root of semel and simplex.^[2][3][4] De Vaan follows Hiltbrunner and an older suggestion of Corssen in taking the second part as an unattested adjective *caerus “whole, intact”, also seen in caerimōnia, and compares Proto-Indo-European *keh₂i-lo- (“whole”) in Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “whole”) and Germanic *hailaz.^[2] He rejects a link with prōcērus, which the OLD still considers,^[2][3] and Wiktionary notes a phonological problem with the proposal, since Proto-Italic /ai/ should give ī in this position.^[1] The popular story that it means “without wax”, from sine cera, has no basis,^[5] although Georges mentions it as a possibility.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards.^[2][4] In the Rudens a slave boasts of a back so unblemished that a leather-worker would call it the soundest hide for his trade.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was physical: sound, whole and unblemished, of skin, vessels and bodies.^[3][7] From this it meant clear, of liquids and light, and unmixed or pure, of substances, of a people's descent, and of a style of speaking.^[3][8] In a moral sense it meant free from falseness, genuine, and of a historian such as Thucydides, faithful and straightforward.^[3][6]

In Christian Latin the sense “sincere, faithful” became dominant,^[9] and this is the sense in which English borrowed English sincere through French in the 1530s.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of an unmarked back.^[3][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the pure nature of the soul.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero distinguishes the false from the sincera and calls Thucydides a sincerus narrator.^[3][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace writes that a vessel which is not clean sours whatever is poured in.^[3][4]
• 1530s – English borrows it through French as English sincere.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sound, whole, unblemished; unimpaired.^[3][7]
2. Clear, unclouded (of liquids, air, light).^[3]
3. Pure, unmixed; of style, pure.^[3]
4. Faithful, straightforward (of a writer).^[3][6]
5. Free from falseness, genuine, sincere.^[3][9]
6. Real, true.^[3]

Word family

• īnsincērus
• sincēritās
• sincērō

Related words

• caerimonia
• caelum
• semel
• simplex
• English sincere

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson