facinus

facinus

Latin

Etymology

    From faciō + -nus.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    facinus n (genitive facinoris); third declension

    1. deed, action, doing
      Synonyms: factum, rēs, gestum, āctiō, āctus
    2. (by extension) adventure, venture, undertaking
      Synonyms: commissum, coeptum, inceptum
    3. (especially) crime, wickedness, evil deed
      Synonyms: dēlīctum, peccātum, scelus, vitium, noxa, crīmen, culpa, iniūria, dēlinquentia, flāgitium, malum, commissum, maleficium
      Antonyms: bonum, rēctum, virtūs
      • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Cato Maior de Senectute 12.40:
        [] nūllum dēnique scelus, nūllum malum facinus esse, ad quod suscipiendum nōn libīdō voluptātis impelleret; [] .”
        “There is, in the end, no crime, no wicked deed, the pursuit of which would not be impelled by lust for sensual pleasure.”
        (Cicero’s character Cato the Elder quotes the Pythagorean philosopher Archytas of Tarentum.)

    Declension

    Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

    singular plural
    nominative facinus facinora
    genitive facinoris facinorum
    dative facinorī facinoribus
    accusative facinus facinora
    ablative facinore facinoribus
    vocative facinus facinora

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • Portuguese: facínora

    References

    • facinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • facinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • facinus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
      • monstrous: o facinus indignum! (Ter. Andr. 1. 1. 118)
      • to do a criminal deed: facinus facere, committere
      • to commit some blameworthy action: facinus, culpam in se admittere
    • De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “faciō, -ere (> Derivatives > facinus, -oris)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 198