sincerus

Latin

Alternative forms

• syncerus (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *senkairos, from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (compare Latin simplex, and Sanskrit सम (sama, “whole, together”)) and *ḱer- (“grow”) (compare Sanskrit किर् (kir, “pour out”)). According to De Vaan, the second part of the compound derives from the unattested adjective *caerus found in the first part of caerimōnia, which is also related to caelum (“sky”). However, this is problematic: the expected outcome of Proto-Italic *senkairos would be *sincīrus, since Proto-Italic /ai/ gives /iː/, not /eː/ under vowel reduction (as in occīdere), and it is implausible that this word was imported from rural dialects of Latin which monophthongize /ai/ to /ɛː/, as in fēnum, without leaving any trace of the urban Latin development.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /sinˈkeː.rus/, [s̠ɪŋˈkeːrʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /sinˈt͡ʃe.rus/, [sin̠ʲˈt͡ʃɛːrus]

Adjective

sincērus (feminine sincēra, neuter sincērum, comparative sincērior, adverb sincērē or sincēriter); first/second-declension adjective

1. clean, pure, sound.
2. uninjured, whole.
3. real, natural.
4. genuine, sincere.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	sincērus	sincēra	sincērum		sincērī	sincērae	sincēra
Genitive	sincērī	sincērae	sincērī		sincērōrum	sincērārum	sincērōrum
Dative	sincērō		sincērō		sincērīs
Accusative	sincērum	sincēram	sincērum		sincērōs	sincērās	sincēra
Ablative	sincērō	sincērā	sincērō		sincērīs
Vocative	sincēre	sincēra	sincērum		sincērī	sincērae	sincēra

Derived terms

• īnsincērus
• sincēritās

Descendants

• Aragonese: sencero
• Catalan: sencer
• Occitan: sencer
• Italian: sincero
• Sardinian: sincheru
• Sicilian: sinzeru
• → Albanian: sinqertë
• → Catalan: sincer
• → Middle French: sincere
  • → English: sincere
  • French: sincère
• → Piedmontese: sincer
• → Portuguese: sincero
• → Romanian: sincer
• → Spanish: sincero

References

• “sincerus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sincerus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sincerus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “sincērus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 11: S–Si, page 640