scelestus Latin · revision 31450

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *skel-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [skɛˈɫɛs.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ʃeˈlɛs.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scelestus''' (feminine scelesta, neuter scelestum, comparative scelestior, superlative scelestissimus); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|scelus|t=crime, wickedness]] with the suffix [[m|la|-tus]], like [[m|la|fūnestus|t=deadly]] from ⟨fūnus⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces ⟨scelus⟩ to [[itc-pro|*skelos]] and [[ine-pro|*skel-os|t=curve, bending]], with a shift from “crooked” to “wicked”, cognate with [[grc|σκολιός|tr=skoliós|t=crooked, unjust]] and [[m|grc|σκέλος|tr=skélos|t=leg]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has “I think I am the most cursed of men” in the ''Casina'';^(OLD 2012) Köbler gives Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is first lying under a curse, doomed or calamitous, as in Plautus, and pityingly of someone foolish, as Plautus' wife who thought her husband honest.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) It is guilty of crime, wicked or villainous, and as a colloquial insult “scoundrel”, as Plautus' “I'll cut out that wicked tongue of yours, you rascal!”; of acts it is criminal, as the pimp's house that serves a wicked slavery in the ''Curculio''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Lewis and Short find it most often in early Latin, and as a noun a rogue or miscreant.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Döderlein says that ''scelestus'' refers to the mind, one prone to crime, and ''sceleratus'' to acts, one stained with crime.^(Döderlein 1874) Church Latin glosses it “wicked, abominable, shameless, infamous, accursed”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a cursed man and of a wicked tongue.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Under a curse, doomed, [[m|en|calamitous]]; unfortunate, misguided.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|wicked|alt=Wicked]], villainous, criminal, [[m|en|abominable]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995) roguish.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A wicked person, a [[m|en|scoundrel]], rogue.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scelestē]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[scelus]]

+ * [[scelerātus]]

+ * [[nefārius]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}