incontinens Latin · revision 36455

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *tn-eh1-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪŋˈkɔn.tɪ.nẽːs]^(Wiktionary)

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''incontinēns''' (genitive incontinentis, adverb incontinenter); third-declension one-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|continēns|t2=holding together, self-restrained]], the participle of [[m|la|contineō|t=to hold together]] with the negative prefix.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) That verb is formed from [[m|la|con-]] and [[m|la|teneō|t=to hold]],^(Wiktionary) which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*t(e)nē-]] and [[ine-pro|*tn-eh1-|t=to hold]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Plautus,^(Köbler 2010) whose ''Asinaria'' calls a man intemperate and a hater of his wife, ''incontinentem atque ōsōrem uxōris suae'',^(OLD 2012) as the opposite of ''continentem'' a few lines before.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant lacking control over one's appetites, unrestrained or intemperate, often of sexual desire:^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Horace speaks of unrestrained hands and of the liver of Tityos, and Gellius says that Latin calls men given over to bestial pleasures ''incontinentēs'' or ''intemperantēs''.^(OLD 2012) Seneca uses it with a genitive, and of natural forces: nothing is as violent or as unable to restrain itself as a great mass of water.^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder has the literal sense, not holding or retaining.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The adverb [[incontinenter]] is in Cicero.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Christian writers set it against ''continentēs'', and the Vulgate says that men will be ''incontinentēs''.^(TLL) British medieval writers use it for intemperate and, of clergy, for unchaste.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of an intemperate husband.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of unrestrained hands.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a womb that does not retain.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius gives it as the Latin word for men ruled by their pleasures.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate says that men will be ''incontinentēs''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1397 – A visitation of the diocese of Hereford uses it of an unchaste chaplain.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Not holding or [[m|en|retain|alt=retaining]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Unable to control one's appetites, [[m|en|intemperate]], [[m|en|incontinent]]; with a genitive, unable to restrain.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|unchaste|alt=Unchaste]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[incontinentia]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[continēns]]

+ * [[intemperāns]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}