degener Latin · revision 32307

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=derivation|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=ine-pro *ǵenh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈdeː.ɡɛ.nɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.d͡ʒe.ner]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēgener''' (genitive dēgeneris); third-declension one-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The OLD and the TLL take it as a back-formation [[der|la|dēgenerō|t=to degenerate]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Lewis & Short and Wiktionary instead form it from [[m|la|dē-]] and [[m|la|genus|t=race, kind]], and Priscian from the word for family.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|genus]] to [[ine-pro|*ǵenh₁-o/es-|t=race, offspring]], from the root of [[m|la|gignō|t=to beget]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Virgil,^(Köbler 2010) in whose ''Aeneid'' fear proves souls low-born.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means of inferior stock or low-born, and of animals and plants of an inferior breed, as Columella's common, low-bred ass.^(OLD 2012) Most often it is less worthy than one's ancestors, degenerate: in Virgil a speaker bids Achilles be told that his son Neoptolemus is degenerate.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) With a genitive it means unworthy of, as Ovid's young man not unworthy of his father's eloquence.^(OLD 2012) It is also soft or weak, as Seneca's degenerate bull that does not lead the herd, and of acts ignoble or contemptible.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and post-Augustan, frequent in Pliny and Tacitus.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin glosses it ignoble, unworthy.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of fear and of a degenerate son.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a son not unworthy of his father.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella of a low-bred ass.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a degenerate bull.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of inferior stock, low-born; of animals and plants, of an inferior breed.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Less worthy than one's ancestors, [[m|en|degenerate]]; with a genitive, unworthy of.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Soft, weak; fallen from former standards.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Of actions, contemptible, [[m|en|ignoble]].^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[degenero|alt=dēgenerō]]

+ * [[genus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}