Etymology question about "Ingenuous"
Hi all, I'm having some difficulty understanding the etymology of the word Ingenuous. I see that it's from the Latin ingenuus, which breaks down into in + gigno + uus, so I have 2 questions:
1) Would it be correct to break down the word as such?
in + genus + ous
2) The word then breaks down into the following parts: in (means in, on, into, upon); genus (means birth, origin, race, group); and -ous (means full of)
So my question is, what is the actual meaning that we get from this breakdown?
It literally translates to "being full of birth in"... but that doesn't make sense to me. I know that the word means "a childlike innocence" and that innocence is related to being newly born, so perhaps "full of birth" would make sense (which would simply be genuous), but then what is "IN" doing in there? and what is it's contribution to the word?
Can someone with better understanding please better articulate the definition of the word by reverse-engineering it from the etymological breakdown above? Thank you so much! ????
Top answer
It is useful to be aware of the etymologies of words, but there be dragons. I daresay that most English words have drifted far from their original forms and meanings. When a Latin word enters English, it has to check its toga at the door.
- It is useful to be aware of the etymologies of words, but there be dragons.
- I daresay that most English words have drifted far from their original forms and meanings.
- When a Latin word enters English, it has to check its toga at the door.
- It is dangerous to guess at etymologies.
- You will learn things that are wrong doing that.
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It is useful to be aware of the etymologies of words, but there be dragons. I daresay that most English words have drifted far from their original forms and meanings. When a Latin word enters English, it has to check its toga at the door. It is dangerous to guess at etymologies. You will learn things that are wrong doing that.
The Latin word is from the Latin gignere, to beget, no
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