modestus

See also: Modestus

Latin

Etymology

From the same root as modus m (“measure, manner”), but not directly derived from this noun, which declines in Latin as a masculine o-stem. The form modestus is made up of components derived from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”) + *-os (noun-forming suffix) + *-tós (adjective-forming suffix) (Classical Latin -tus); this implies the existence at some point of a neuter s-stem noun (also indirectly attested by the -er- found in moderor). Compare scelestus, derived from the s-stem noun scelus n (or an ancestral form of it).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /moˈdes.tus/, [mɔˈd̪ɛs̠t̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /moˈdes.tus/, [moˈd̪ɛst̪us]

Adjective

modestus (feminine modesta, neuter modestum, comparative modestior, superlative modestissimus, adverb modestē); first/second-declension adjective

1. moderate, calm, restrained, mild
2. modest, reserved, discreet

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	modestus	modesta	modestum		modestī	modestae	modesta
Genitive	modestī	modestae	modestī		modestōrum	modestārum	modestōrum
Dative	modestō		modestō		modestīs
Accusative	modestum	modestam	modestum		modestōs	modestās	modesta
Ablative	modestō	modestā	modestō		modestīs
Vocative	modeste	modesta	modestum		modestī	modestae	modesta

Derived terms

• immodestus
• modestē
• modestia

Related terms

• moderō
• moderor
• modus
• Modestus

Descendants

• Albanian: modest
• Catalan: modest
• English: modest
• French: modeste
• Galician: modesto
• Italian: modesto
• Portuguese: modesto
• Romanian: modest
• Spanish: modesto

References

• “modestus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “modestus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• modestus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “modestus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “modestus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray