FromLatin. As found, for example, inLivy,Ab Urbe ConditaBook IX, Chapter 19, line 15.
absit invidia
- Literally, "may envy be lacking (from my words)".
- 1656 (N.S.), George Davenport,The Letters of George Davenport, 1651-16772011 publication
- I long as old Eli did (verbo absit invidia) to hear what is become of the ark; but fear I shall not hear what I desire, and my answer shall be with the daughter in law translata est gloria Dei de—.
- Comment: "Translata est gloria Dei de ..." is a slight paraphrase from 1 Samuel 4:22.
1778, Thomas Campbell, “Letter XXXI”, inA Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland: In a Series of Letters to John Watkinson, M.D.,page291:What most evidently prevailed,absit invidia, and what betrayed her into all theChesterfieldian indecorums of laughter, was his addressing her in Irish.
- 1842, Thomas Fuller,The Church History of Britain, from the Birth of Jesus Christ Until the Year MDCXLVIII (James Nichols, London, 3rd edition)p.401
- I have done with the Oxford Bacons : only let me add, that those of Cambridge, father and son, Nicholas and Francis, the one of Bene't, and the other of Trinity-College, do hold(absit invidia ! ) the scales of desert, even against all of their name in all of the world besides.
The phrase was used to deflect the "evil eye" from a statement describing excellence. That is, the hubris of the braggart was feared to attract jealous deities.[1] The Englishno offense has an entirely different connotation.
