incestus Latin · revision 32108

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=itc-pro *kas-ē-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''incestus''' (feminine incesta, neuter incestum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ The noun ''incestus'', genitive ''incestūs'', is of the fourth declension.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|castus|t2=pure, chaste]], with the vowel weakened; the grammarian Marius Victorinus notes that this adjective gives ⟨incestus⟩, not ⟨incastus⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The noun is formed from the adjective with the suffix [[m|la|-tus]].^(OLD 2012) De Vaan explains [[m|la|castus]] as the old participle of [[m|la|careō|t=to lack, be free from]], from [[itc-pro|*kas-ē-|t=to lack]], a root with no certain Indo-European cognates.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[xfa|carefo|t=I will lack]] and [[osc|kasit|t=it is necessary]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Festus wrongly derived it from Greek.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates both the adjective and the noun from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who in a speech uses the adjective of an unholy act of debauchery committed by a man in women's clothing in the house of the chief pontiff.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In a religious sense it means unclean, unholy or profane, and so unrighteous or sinful, as Horace's “Jupiter, neglected, has often joined the innocent with the guilty”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It also means sexually impure or unchaste, as Horace's unchaste loves, and in particular guilty of incest or involving incest, as Cinna of Smyrna's incestuous womb, and in Statius.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short note that the adjective is mostly poetic and post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ The noun means sexual impurity, often incest; it is mostly Ciceronian, as in ''quaestio dē incestū'', a trial for unchastity.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Döderlein notes that ''incestus'' is an incestuous person, while ''[[incastus]]'' is only an unchaste one.^(Döderlein 1874) Medieval Latin keeps the noun in the sense incest.^(Niermeyer 1976) English borrowed ''incest'' about 1200, partly from the neuter ''[[incestum]]''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of an unholy act and of trials for unchastity.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of the guilty and of unchaste loves.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius of incestuous unions.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1200 – English [[m|en|incest]] is borrowed.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Unclean in a religious sense, [[m|en|unholy]], profane; [[m|en|sinful]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Sexually impure, [[m|en|unchaste]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Guilty of incest, [[m|en|incestuous]]; involving incest.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Sexual impurity, unchastity; [[m|en|incest]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[incestō]]

+ * [[incestum]]

+ * [[incestificus]]

+ * [[incestuosus]]

+ * [[incestē]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[castus]]

+ * [[careo|alt=careō]]

+ * [[en|incest]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}