indefensus Latin · revision 34633

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=59 BC–17 AD, Livy|origins=la dēfendō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪn.deːˈfẽː.sʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [in.deˈfɛn.sus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''indēfēnsus''' (feminine indēfēnsa, neuter indēfēnsum, adverb indēfēnsē); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|dēfēnsus|t1=not|t2=defended]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) the past participle of [[m|la|dēfendō|t=to ward off, defend]].^(OLD 2012) That verb contains [[m|la|-fendō]], which de Vaan traces to [[ine-pro|*gʷʰen-dʰ-|t=to hit, strike]] or to an imperative [[m|ine-pro|*gʷʰn̥dʰí|t=strike!]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Livy has it first,^(Köbler 2010) of soldiers left defenceless and unavenged against the enemy's weapons, and of Capua deserted and undefended.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short think it perhaps not used before Augustus.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Besides military defencelessness, it is used of a harbour in Frontinus and, in Pliny the Elder, of millet that birds can eat because it is enclosed only in a skin.^(OLD 2012) In law it means not defended against a charge or claim: Tacitus speaks of people who perished unheard and undefended, and the jurist Paulus of a right left undefended.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Late Latin has the adverb ''indēfēnsē''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In medieval British sources it also means unclaimed or not warranted (of rights to land) and, of land, not enclosed.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of soldiers and of a town left undefended.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of people condemned unheard and undefended.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1301 – An English royal letter uses it of rights left unclaimed.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Not protected against attack, [[m|en|defenceless]], [[m|en|undefended]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(law)'' Not defended against an accusation or claim.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Of rights: unclaimed, not warranted; of land: not enclosed.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dēfendō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}