infacetus Latin · revision 36328

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la facētus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ĩː.faˈkeː.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iɱ.faˈt͡ʃɛː.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īnfacētus''' (feminine īnfacēta, neuter īnfacētum, comparative īnfacētior, superlative īnfacētissimus); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ The OLD lists it as ''inficētus'', with ''infacētus'' as a variant.^(OLD 2012)

+ Manuscripts of Plautus and Pliny the Elder have the spelling ''infic-''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|facētus|t1=not|t2=elegant, witty]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The origin of [[m|la|facētus]] is doubtful: the ancients connected it with [[m|la|faciō|t=to make, do]], and the OLD suggests a link with [[m|la|fax|t=torch]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on,^(TLL) who has it in the ''Truculentus'' of a person without wit or tact.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Catullus uses it of people and of the age: one man is more boorish than the boorish countryside, and the poet calls his own times ''īnsapiēns et īnfacētum'', “tasteless and witless”.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) Cicero often has it with a negative, so that ''nōn īnfacētus'' praises someone as rather witty,^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) as of Gaius Canius, “not without wit and well enough read” (''De officiis'' 3.58).^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of things it means lacking wit, as of a lie that Cicero calls ''nōn īnfacētum'' and a saying in Suetonius;^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Martial uses it of a piece of music.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the ''Truculentus''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus calls the age ''īnsapiēns et īnfacētum''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero praises Gaius Canius as ''nec īnfacētus''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of music.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(of persons)'' [[m|en|boorish|alt=Boorish]], tactless; humourless, lacking [[m|en|wit]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(of sayings and the like)'' Not witty, dull;^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) ''nōn īnfacētus'', rather witty.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes the two spellings: ''inficētus'' blames a tasteless, heavy person, while ''infacētus'' only says that someone is not remarkable for wit.^(Döderlein 1874) Köbler also records a rare ''infacētus'' with an intensive prefix, “very elegant”, in the Latin Anthology.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}