inconstans Latin · revision 34200

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la stō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪŋˈkõː.stãːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈkɔn.stans]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''incōnstāns''' (genitive incōnstantis, adverb incōnstanter); third-declension one-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|cōnstāns|t1=not|t2=steady, constant]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The second part is the present participle of [[m|la|cōnstō|t=to stand firm]], a compound of [[m|la|con-]] and [[m|la|stō|t=to stand]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler and the OLD record it first in Cicero,^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) who tells an opponent he seemed ridiculously inconsistent, ''qui eundem et laederes et laudares'', “since you both attacked and praised the same man”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of people it means not steadfast, fickle, changeable, and Cicero applies it also to words and actions, to letters and to a whole life at odds with itself.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Seneca calls the people ''in omnibus inconstantissimus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In rhetoric it means self-contradictory: Cicero defines an inconsistent argument as one in which the same person says different things about the same matter, and Quintilian warns against a wavering witness.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Of things it means unsettled or changeable, as Seneca's lower air and Pliny the Elder's ''inconstantes venti'', and of speech or expression agitated, as in Cicero and Gellius.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) The Vulgate has ''vir duplex animo inconstans est in omnibus viis suis''.^(Georges 1913) Medieval writers in Britain use it of one who is not steadfast, and of an unsteady faith.^(DMLBS) English took it over from Old French as [[m|en|inconstant]] around 1400.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of fickle people and inconsistent arguments.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the people and of the air.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder has ''inconstantes venti''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of the double-minded man.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English [[m|en|inconstant]] is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of things, unsettled, [[m|en|unstable]], [[m|en|changeable]]; of speech or expression, agitated.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # Of persons, words or actions, not steadfast, [[m|en|fickle]], inconsistent.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # Self-contradictory in speech.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[incōnstantia]]

+ * [[incōnstanter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cōnstāns]]

+ * [[cōnstō]]

+ * [[stō]]

+ * [[en|inconstant]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}