obscenus
Latin edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Uncertain. Usually derived from Proto-Indo-European *ḱʷeyn- (“to soil; mud; filth”). According to Pokorny, cognate with inquinō, caenum, cūniō and whin.
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /obˈskeː.nus/, [ɔpˈs̠keːnʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /obˈʃe.nus/, [obˈʃɛːnus]
Adjective edit
obscēnus (feminine obscēna, neuter obscēnum, superlative obscēnissimus); first/second-declension adjective
- inauspicious, ominous, portentous
- repulsive, offensive, abominable, hateful, disgusting, filthy
- immodest, impure, indecent, lewd, obscene
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.675–676:
- nunc mihi cūr cantent superest obscēna puellae
dīcere; nam coeunt certaque probra canunt- Now it remains for me to say why the girls sing obscene songs,
for they get together and recite certain indecencies.
(The ancient Roman festival of Anna Perenna included merry references to a mythological prank: After Mars asked the elderly goddess Anna to help him woo young Minerva, a veiled Anna fooled Mars by entering his bedchamber herself and mocking the god once he realized the deception.)
- Now it remains for me to say why the girls sing obscene songs,
- nunc mihi cūr cantent superest obscēna puellae
Declension edit
First/second-declension adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | obscēnus | obscēna | obscēnum | obscēnī | obscēnae | obscēna | |
Genitive | obscēnī | obscēnae | obscēnī | obscēnōrum | obscēnārum | obscēnōrum | |
Dative | obscēnō | obscēnō | obscēnīs | ||||
Accusative | obscēnum | obscēnam | obscēnum | obscēnōs | obscēnās | obscēna | |
Ablative | obscēnō | obscēnā | obscēnō | obscēnīs | |||
Vocative | obscēne | obscēna | obscēnum | obscēnī | obscēnae | obscēna |
Descendants edit
References edit
- “obscenus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “obscenus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- obscenus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.