English
horribile dictu
Horribile dictu comes from Latin horribile dictu.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhorribile dictuliterally ‘horrible to say’
- Englishearliest quotation 2011same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhorribile dictuliterally ‘horrible to say’
- Englishearliest quotation 2011same form
Earliest quotation: 2011, Jonathan Dee, A Midwestern Family’s Withered Roots: “We first meet the Ericksons in 1973, at the…”
The story
Borrowed from Latin horribile dictu (literally “horrible to say”).
Every English word from Latin horribile dictu
Today it means
adv Horrible to say; horribly.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin horribile dictu / horribile dictu