sinister Latin · revision 664

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [sɪˈnɪs.tɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [siˈnis.ter]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sinister''' (feminine sinistra, neuter sinistrum, comparative sinistrior, superlative sinistimus, adverb sinistrē); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It goes back to [[itc-pro|*senis-tero-]], of unclear origin.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The ending appears to combine the comparative suffix [[m|ine-pro|*-is-]] with the contrastive [[m|ine-pro|*-tero-]], as in [[dexter]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Walde and Hofmann connected the root with [[ine-pro|*senh₂-|t=to obtain, gain]], seen in [[sa|सनोति|tr=sanóti|t=wins, gains]], so that the left would be “the more favourable side”, a euphemism.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012) De Vaan considers this gratuitous, as the meaning is not specific enough, and notes that beside [[laevus]] and [[scaevus]] the sense “left” must be a newer development.^(de Vaan 2008) Pokorny compares the Germanic words for “left” such as [[non|vinstri]], formed the same way from another root.^(Pokorny 1959)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) In the ''Pseudolus'' a slave leads his forces “with a bird on the left”, a favourable omen in Roman augury.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In its plain sense it meant situated on the [[m|en|left]], of parts of the body, sides of a camp, banks of a river and the left wing of an army.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In augury its value depended on the system: Roman augurs, facing south, took signs on the left as favourable, while Greek practice took them as unfavourable.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The unfavourable value prevailed in poetry from Virgil onwards, and the word came to mean adverse, harmful and then perverse or immoral.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ Through French ''sinistre'' it reached [[en|sinister]], first in the sense “malicious, dishonest”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a favourable omen on the left.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses ''sinistrum cornu'' for the left wing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro explains that signs on the left are good auspices.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus speaks of a ''sinistra liberalitas'', a perverse generosity.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for baleful character and omens.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 15th century – English borrows it through French as [[en|sinister]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|left|alt=Left]], on the left side.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''cornu sinistrum'': the left wing of an army.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(augury)'' Favourable (in Roman practice) or unfavourable (in Greek practice).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Adverse, harmful, [[m|en|baleful]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|perverse|alt=Perverse]], immoral.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sinisteritās]]

+ * [[sinistra]]

+ * [[sinistrātus]]

+ * [[sinistrōrsum]]

+ * [[sinistrouersus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dexter]]

+ * [[laevus]]

+ * [[scaevus]]

+ * [[en|sinister]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The feminine ''[[sinistra]]'' (understood ''manus'') was used as a noun for the left hand.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Older forms ''sinistera'' and ''sinisterum'' occur in Plautus, Terence and Varro.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}