dedecet Latin · revision 33846

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *deḱ-eh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈdeː.dɛ.kɛt]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.de.t͡ʃet]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēdecet''' (present infinitive dēdecēre, perfect active dēdecuit); second conjugation, third person-only, no passive, no supine stem^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dē-|decet|t2=it is fitting]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|decet]] to [[itc-pro|*dek-ē-|t=fits, is right]] and [[ine-pro|*deḱ-eh₁-]], related to [[grc|δέχομαι|tr=dékhomai|t=to accept]], with a cognate in [[xum|tiçit|t=ought to]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cicero uses it in the ''Orator'', setting what is unbecoming against what is fitting to the time and person,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and in the ''De officiis'' of avoiding whatever is unseemly.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is mostly impersonal, “it is unbecoming”, usually with a negative and built like ''decet'': Horace says the myrtle does not misbecome a servant or himself drinking under the vine, and Cicero that an orator may feign anger though anger itself is unfitting.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Ovid uses it of hair that did not misbecome its mistress, and Quintilian of the voice and of how to wear the toga.^(Lewis & Short 1879) By poetic licence it can be personal and transitive, “to dishonour”: Statius has someone who has not disgraced another's orders, and Tacitus Atticus seeming to bring discredit on the images of the Claudii.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Stelten gives “it is unseemly or unsuitable”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, “it is unbecoming”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace, of the myrtle that suits a servant.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius, in the first person, “dishonour”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(usually impersonal)'' To be [[m|en|unbecoming]] to, unsuitable for; to be [[m|en|unseemly]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To bring disgrace on, [[m|en|dishonour]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[decet]]

+ * [[dēdecus]]

+ * [[dēdecōrus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}