The corpus record — Latin

absurdus

absurdus · adj

out of tune

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Technopaegnion 1 · 6.73/10k
Clodius Albinus 1 · 3.7/10k
Pro P. Sulla 3 · 3.22/10k
Domitianus 1 · 2.91/10k
Lucullus 5 · 2.78/10k
Commentariolum Petitionis 1 · 2.3/10k
Laelius De Amicitia 2 · 2.14/10k
Pro Q. Roscio Comoedo 1 · 2.1/10k
De Partitione Oratoria 2 · 2.04/10k
De Fato 1 · 2.02/10k
Adelphi 2 · 2.02/10k
de Natura Deorum 7 · 1.96/10k

Densest 12 of 55 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. ab-surdus — Lewis & Short

ab-surdus, a, um, adj.ab, mis-, and Sanscr. svan = sonare; cf. susurrus, and su=rigc, = a pipe; cf. also absonus,

I out of tune, hence giving a disagreeable sound, harsh, rough.

I Lit.: vox absona et absurda, Cic. de Or. 3, 11, 41; so of the croaking of frogs: absurdoque sono fontes et stagna cietis, Poët. ap. Cic. Div. 1, 9, 15.—

II Fig., of persons and things, irrational, incongruous, absurd, silly, senseless, stupid: ratio inepta atque absurda, Ter. Ad. 3, 3, 22: hoc pravum, ineptum, absurdum atque alienum a vitā meā videtur, id. ib. 5, 8, 21: carmen cum ceteris rebus absurdum tum vero in illo, Cic. Mur. 26: illud quam incredibile, quam absurdum! id. Sull. 20: absurda res est caveri, id. Balb. 37: bene dicere haud absurdum est, is not inglorious, per litotem for, is praiseworthy, glorious, Sall. C. 3 Kritz.—Homo absurdus, a man who is fit or good for nothing: sin plane abhorrebit et erit absurdus, Cic. de Or. 2, 20, 85: absurdus ingenio, Tac. H. 3, 62; cf.: sermo comis, nec absurdum ingenium, id. A. 13, 45.—Comp., Cic. Phil. 8, 41; id. N. D. 1, 16; id. Fin. 2, 13.—Sup., Cic. Att. 7, 13.—Adv.: absurdē.

1 Lit., discordantly: canere, Cic. Tusc. 2, 4, 12.—

2 Fig., irrationally, absurdly, Plaut. Ep. 3, 1, 6; Cic. Rep. 2, 15; id. Div. 2, 58, 219 al.—Comp., Cic. Phil. 8, 1, 4.—Sup., Aug. Trin. 4 fin.

2. absurdus — Walde–Hofmann

absurdus, -a, -um „mißklingend, ungereimt, töricht“ (seit Ter): Bildung wie gleichbed. absonus (ceit Cic.) zu Wz. *suer- (s. susurrus; vgl. surdus, die dann im Lat. ebenso wie im Ai. auch artikuliertes — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. absurdus, p. 37]

In the wild

absurda Apuleius, Metamorphoses 1.2
absurdum Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum 2.93
absurda Cicero, Pro L. Cornelio Balbo 37
absurda Tacitus, Annales 6.p33
absurdum Cicero, Pro P. Sulla 31
absurdum Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 18.1.11

6 of 144 attestations shown.

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. absurdus (scan p. 28; entry #101).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. absurdus (scan p. 37; entry #75). Root candidates: *suer-.

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.