curiosus

Latin

Etymology

Back-formation from incūriōsus (“careless, negligent”) by deletion of the negative prefix in- (“un-”) in order to remain with the opposite meaning.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kuː.riˈoː.sus/, [kuːriˈoːs̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ku.riˈo.sus/, [kuriˈɔːs̬us]

Adjective

cūriōsus (feminine cūriōsa, neuter cūriōsum, comparative cūriōsior); first/second-declension adjective

1. Careful, diligent, thoughtful, devoted.
2. Elaborate, complicated.
3. That injures himself by care; careworn, emaciated, wasted, lean.
4. (in a good sense) Curious, inquisitive.
5. (in a bad sense) Meddlesome, officious, prying, interfering, curious, inquisitive.
   • 1st c. BC, Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum :

     Etenim si delectamur cum scribimus, quis est tam invidus qui ab eo nos abducat? [...] Sic isti curiosi, quos offendit noster minime nobis iniucundus labor.

     Indeed if I enjoy writing, who would be so spiteful as to keep me from it? [...] Thus are these meddlesome individuals to whom this my not at all unpleasant (to me) endeavor is offensive.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	cūriōsus	cūriōsa	cūriōsum		cūriōsī	cūriōsae	cūriōsa
genitive	cūriōsī	cūriōsae	cūriōsī		cūriōsōrum	cūriōsārum	cūriōsōrum
dative	cūriōsō	cūriōsae	cūriōsō		cūriōsīs
accusative	cūriōsum	cūriōsam	cūriōsum		cūriōsōs	cūriōsās	cūriōsa
ablative	cūriōsō	cūriōsā	cūriōsō		cūriōsīs
vocative	cūriōse	cūriōsa	cūriōsum		cūriōsī	cūriōsae	cūriōsa

Derived terms

• cūriōsē
• cūriōsitās
• cūriōsulus
• incūriōsus

Related terms

• cūra
• cūrābilis
• cūragendārius
• cūrāns
• cūrātē
• cūrātiō
• cūrātor
• cūrātōria
• cūrātōrīcius
• cūrātōrius
• cūrātrīx
• cūrātūra
• cūrātus
• cūritō
• cūrius
• cūrō

Descendants

• Catalan: curiós
• → Dutch: curiosum
• → English: curious, curiosum
• → French: curieux
  • → Danish: kuriøs
• → German: Kuriosum
• → Hungarian: kuriózum
• Italian: curioso
• Norman: tchuthieux (Jersey)
• → Polish: kuriozum
• Portuguese: curioso
• Romanian: curios
• Sicilian: curiusu
• Spanish: curioso

Noun

cūriōsus m (genitive cūriōsī); second declension

1. One who pries; a spy or scout; secret police, informer.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cūriōsus	cūriōsī
genitive	cūriōsī	cūriōsōrum
dative	cūriōsō	cūriōsīs
accusative	cūriōsum	cūriōsōs
ablative	cūriōsō	cūriōsīs
vocative	cūriōse	cūriōsī

References

• “curiosus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• curiosus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• curiosus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.