calamitosus Latin · revision 31615

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la calamitās}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ka.ɫa.mɪˈtoː.sʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ka.la.miˈtɔː.s̬us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''calamitōsus''' (feminine calamitōsa, neuter calamitōsum, comparative calamitōsior, superlative calamitōsissimus); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|calamitās|-ōsus|t1=loss, disaster]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of ⟨calamitās⟩, which he takes from an adjective [[itc-pro|*kalamo-|t=damaged]], perhaps [[ine-pro|*kl̥h₂-em-o-|t=beaten, damaged]]; the same adjective, negated, is in [[incolumis|t=unharmed, safe]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who uses it of land and of people exposed to damage: a farm should have a good climate “so that it is not liable to disaster”, and the trader, though energetic, is said to lead a risky life “liable to ruin”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Cicero it is mostly “stricken by disaster, wretched”, as in “miserable and ruined men”, and as a noun “the unfortunate”, whom an advocate defends.^(OLD 2012) The active sense “ruinous, calamitous” is also Ciceronian: he says Verres swept through every part of the province like a destructive storm and plague.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) With a more passive sense Cicero says that it is a calamity to be stripped of one's goods, and a worse one with disgrace.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “calamitous”,^(Stelten 1995) and Köbler records it in a medieval Life of Bruno of Cologne (967–969).^(Köbler 2010) English took [[m|en|calamitous]] from French ''calamiteux'', from this word, in the 1540s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of land and of traders exposed to disaster.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of wretched people and of a ruinous storm.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 967–969 – Ruotger's Life of Bruno of Cologne.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1540s – English [[m|en|calamitous]], through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Liable to damage or [[m|en|disaster]]: of land or crops, and of people exposed to ruin.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Stricken by disaster, [[m|en|wretched]], unfortunate; as a noun, an unfortunate person.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Ruinous, destructive, [[m|en|calamitous]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[calamitās]]

+ * [[incolumis]]

+ * [[en|calamitous]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}