facinus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *fakinos. Related to faciō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfa.kɪ.nʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfaː.t͡ʃi.nus]

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

• facinerōsus / facinorōsus

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, 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