scelerate Latin · revision 33768

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=86/82 BC, Rhetorica ad Herennium|origins=ine-pro *skel-os}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scelerātē''' (comparative scelerātius, superlative scelerātissimē)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|scelerātus|-ē|t1=wicked, accursed]].^(OLD 2012) [[m|la|scelerātus]] is formed from [[m|la|scelus|t=crime]],^(Köbler 2010) which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*skelos]] and [[ine-pro|*skel-os|t=curve, bending]], cognate with [[grc|σκολιός|tr=skoliós|t=crooked, unjust]]; the meaning would have shifted from “crooked” to “wicked”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'',^(Köbler 2010) and Cicero uses it often.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is “wickedly, criminally”, the opposite of ''piē'': Cicero contrasts speaking wickedly against someone with speaking dutifully for him.^(Georges 1913) He calls a war wickedly undertaken, says a house was built more wickedly than it was pulled down, and uses the superlative of plots most wickedly contrived.^(Conte 2010)^(Georges 1913) Livy has it too,^(Conte 2010) and the comparative appears in the Vulgate's Ezekiel.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 86/82 BC – The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' has the adverb.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a war wickedly undertaken.^(Conte 2010)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has the adverb.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has the comparative.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # With heinous [[m|en|wickedness]], [[m|en|criminally]], [[m|en|atrocious|alt=atrociously]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[scelerātus]]

+ * [[scelus]]

+ * [[scelestus]]

+ * [[nefāriē]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}