sinistre

Forms

sinistrē (comparative sinistrius, superlative sinistrissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sinister (“left; unfavourable”) + -ē.^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds the origin of sinister uncertain; a link with Proto-Indo-European *senh₂- (“to obtain”), proposed by Walde and Hofmann, as if “the more favourable side”, he calls gratuitous.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Horace, in the Ars poetica, has it of something received with mockery and ill will (derisum exceptumque sinistre).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Tacitus uses it of news taken badly: two killings were received unfavourably, and men wrote back unfavourably about the haste of Primus and Varus.^[2][5] Pliny the Younger, in the Panegyricus, has it in the sense “perversely, wrong-headedly”: things are not so wrongly ordered that men who can imitate a bad emperor cannot imitate a good one.^[2][5]

In British medieval Latin it kept the sense “adversely, wrongly” (of understanding scripture wrongly in Wyclif) and could also mean “on the left hand” and “in an ill-omened way”.^[6]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of something received unfavourably.^[2][3]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of news received badly.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Adversely, unfavourably.^[2][5]
2. Perversely, wrong-headedly.^[2][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) On the left hand.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) In an ill-omened manner.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier