Uncertain. According to Pokorny, fromProto-Indo-European*ḱweyn-(“to soil; mud; filth”) and cognate withinquinō,caenum,cūniō andwhin.
obscēnus (feminineobscēna,neuterobscēnum,superlativeobscēnissimus);first/second-declension adjective
- inauspicious,ominous,portentous
- repulsive,offensive,abominable,hateful,disgusting,filthy
- immodest,impure,indecent,lewd,obscene
8CE,
Ovid,
Fasti3.675–676:
- nunc mihi cūr cantent superestobscēna puellae
dīcere; nam coeunt certaque probra canunt- Now it remains for me to say why the girls singobscene songs,
for they get together and recite certain indecencies.
(The ancient Roman festival ofAnna 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.)
First/second-declension adjective.
- “obscenus”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879),A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “obscenus”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891),An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “obscenus”, inGaffiot, Félix (1934),Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Pokorny, Julius (1959),Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag,page628
