immeritus Latin · revision 32438

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la mereō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''immeritus''' (feminine immerita, neuter immeritum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''inmeritus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|meritus|t1=not|t2=deserved, deserving]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|meritus]] is the participle of [[m|la|mereō|t=to earn, deserve]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*mer-ē-|t=to earn]] and, with a question mark, to *(s)mr-eh₁-; he compares [[grc|μείρομαι|tr=meíromai|t=to receive one's share]] and [[m|grc|μέρος|tr=méros|t=part, share]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has the phrase immeritō meō, “without my deserving it”: a character asks why someone wants to send him to his death though he has done nothing to deserve it.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is active, of people who have not deserved what they get, guiltless: Horace tells the Roman that he will pay for the sins of his fathers though he has not deserved it.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also passive, of what is undeserved, as Livy's well-deserved thanks and glory, haud immeritam.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short find the adjective mostly in poetry and post-Augustan prose.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has immeritō meō.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of a guiltless Roman.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of deserved glory.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Not deserving of harm, [[m|en|guiltless]], innocent; also, not deserving of a benefit.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # immeritō meō, without my deserving it.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|undeserved|alt=Undeserved]], [[m|en|unmerited]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}