inefficax Latin · revision 34516

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=4 BC–65 AD, Seneca|origins=la faciō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪˈnɛf.fɪ.kaːks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iˈnɛf.fi.kaks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''inefficāx''' (genitive inefficācis); third-declension one-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|efficāx|t1=not|t2=effective]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The adjective [[m|la|efficāx]] goes back to [[m|la|ex-]] and [[m|la|faciō|t=to make, do]],^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*fak-i-]] and to [[ine-pro|*dʰh₁-k-|t=to make]], from [[m|ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-|t=to put]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Seneca's philosophical works on;^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) in the ''De ira'' he speaks of a voice that cannot produce words (''vox inefficax verborum'').^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It means achieving nothing, ineffectual or useless: Seneca applies it to reasoning and to the gods.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder uses the comparative of remedies that are less potent than others,^(OLD 2012) and the jurists Africanus and Ulpian use it of a legacy or a decision that is invalid.^(OLD 2012) An inscription has the superlative of very weak parents.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The adverb ''inefficāciter'', “ineffectually”, appears in the Digest, the Code of Justinian and Symmachus.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means ineffective or inefficient.^(Stelten 1995) Köbler lists medieval uses, among them Albertus Magnus.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a voice and of reasoning that achieve nothing.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of weak remedies.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Achieving nothing, [[m|en|ineffectual]], useless, [[m|en|unavailing]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Of remedies, not [[m|en|potent]], not [[m|en|efficacious]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(law)'' [[m|en|invalid|alt=Invalid]], [[m|en|inoperative]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}