infortunium Latin · revision 33562

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ĩː.fɔrˈtuː.ni.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iɱ.forˈtuː.ni.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īnfortūnium''' ''n'' (genitive īnfortūniī or īnfortūnī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|fortūna|-ium|t1=un-|t2=luck]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The TLL compares [[m|la|iniūria]] and [[m|la|incūria]], and allows that it may instead come from an unattested adjective [[m|la|*īnfortūnus]].^(TLL) De Vaan derives [[m|la|fortūna]] from a u-stem for “chance, luck” beside [[m|la|fors]], from [[itc-pro|*forti-]], perhaps from [[ine-pro|*bhr-ti-|t=bearing]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who in the ''Mercator'' has someone call a matter ''maxumum infortunium'', the greatest misfortune.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means misfortune or trouble.^(OLD 2012) In comedy it is often a euphemism for a beating or punishment: Terence has ''ferres infortunium'', you would have got hurt, and Plautus speaks of finding trouble and of guarding against it;^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Livy uses the same colloquial phrase.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) The TLL finds it in old comedy, once each in Horace and Livy, and then from Apuleius on, often in Firmicus Maternus.^(TLL) Lewis & Short note that it is mostly ante- and post-classical and absent from Cicero and Caesar.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace has the plural for the sufferings of tragic heroes.^(Georges 1913)^(TLL) Medieval writers use it for misfortune and calamity,^(MLW) and an interrogation of Templars in 1310 uses it for a crime.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a great misfortune and, euphemistically, of a beating.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence, of punishment.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace, in the plural, of tragic sufferings.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1310 – An interrogation of Templars uses it for a crime.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|misfortune|alt=Misfortune]], [[m|en|calamity]], trouble.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' A beating, [[m|en|punishment]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A crime.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fortūna]]

+ * [[fors]]

+ * [[īnfortūnātus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes it from [[calamitās]]: ''infortūnium'' is a single vexing mishap, such as losing a purse or receiving blows, while ''calamitās'' is a tragic blow such as the loss of a loved one or of power.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}