Etymologically
Log in

sordide

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 14:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

sordidē (comparative sordidius, superlative sordidissimē).[1] The superlative rests on a conjecture in Cicero's speech against Piso.[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sordidus (“dirty, mean”) + -ē.[1] The adjective is formed from sordēs (“dirt, filth”).[2][3] De Vaan suggests that the noun may go back to Proto-Italic *swordi- (“dirt”) and further to Proto-Indo-European *suord-o/i-, to be compared with Old English sweart and Old High German swarz, both meaning “black”; he finds no further Indo-European etymology.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest quotation is from Plautus, of someone who speaks elegantly and not at all vulgarly (laute et minime sordide).[1]

Semantic evolution

It means in a low or squalid way: Seneca the Elder advises speaking against a girl vehemently but not vulgarly or obscenely, and Tacitus speaks of men born in the lowest condition (sordidius et abiectius nati).[1][4] Of speech it means in a mean, unpolished style, as when Cicero reports that Lucius Antonius made a poor harangue, and Suetonius of a declaimer who spoke now splendidly, now plainly and meanly.[1][5] It also means meanly or stingily: in Cicero a man meanly tells Simonides that he will pay him only half of what was agreed, and Pliny the Younger says that Caecilius Classicus governed his province in a grasping way.[1][4] The jurist Ulpian uses it of a guardian who acts meanly towards his ward.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of vulgar speech.[1][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of stingy dealing and of a poor speech.[1][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the comparative of low birth.[1][6]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a living squalidly earned.[1][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. In a low or vulgar manner, squalidly; of humble birth.[1][5]
  2. (of speech) In a mean, unpolished style.[1][4]
  3. Meanly, stingily, sordidly.[1][4][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b 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 Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
  5. ^ a b Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de