crudelis

Latin

Etymology

From crūdus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kruːˈdeː.lis/, [kruːˈd̪eːlʲɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kruˈde.lis/, [kruˈd̪ɛːlis]

Adjective

crūdēlis (neuter crūdēle, comparative crūdēlior, superlative crūdēlissimus, adverb crūdēlē or crūdēliter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. unfeeling, rude
2. ruthless, cruel, merciless

   Synonyms: trux, ferōx, violēns, atrōx, immānis, efferus, ferus, barbaricus, silvāticus, ācer

   Antonyms: mītis, misericors, tranquillus, placidus, quietus, clemens

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.680-681:

     “Hīs etiam strūxī manibus, patriōsque vocāvī
     vōce deōs, sīc tē ut positā crūdēlis abessem?”

     “Have I even built [the funeral pyre] with these hands, and with my voice invoked the ancestral gods, only that when you had laid down in this way [to die], I – [how] cruel! – would be separated [from you]?”
     (Regarding the ambiguity of “crudelis” in this context, see: Austin, R.G., [1966], Aeneidos Liber Quartus, pg. 195 – “Crudelis: this may be either nominative or vocative. Com­mentators have been divided from early times on the point; and as one thinks now of Anna, now of Dido, each without the other’s comfort and confidence at such a moment, how can any sure decision be made, and why should it be made?”)

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

Number	Singular			Plural
Case / Gender	Masc./Fem.	Neuter		Masc./Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	crūdēlis	crūdēle		crūdēlēs	crūdēlia
Genitive	crūdēlis			crūdēlium
Dative	crūdēlī			crūdēlibus
Accusative	crūdēlem	crūdēle		crūdēlēs crūdēlīs	crūdēlia
Ablative	crūdēlī			crūdēlibus
Vocative	crūdēlis	crūdēle		crūdēlēs	crūdēlia

Related terms

• crūdēlē
• crūdēlitas
• crūdēliter
• crūdescō
• crūditas
• crūditātiō
• crūditō
• crūdus

 

Descendants

• Asturian: cruel
• Catalan: cruel
• English: cruel
• French: cruel, cruelle
• Friulian: crudêl
• Galician: cruel
• Italian: crudele
• Occitan: crusèl, cruel
• Portuguese: cruel
• Sicilian: crudili
• Spanish: cruel
• Venetian: crudel

References

• “crudelis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “crudelis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• crudelis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.