Etymograph

English

in flagrante delicto

In flagrante delicto comes from Medieval Latin in flagrante delicto.

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500in flagrante delictoliterally ‘while the crime is blazing’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1908same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500in flagrante delictoliterally ‘while the crime is blazing’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1908same form

Earliest quotation: 1908, Baroness Orczy: “He would be caught in flagrante delicto, and, with…”

A compound of flāgrō ‘burn’ + dēlīctum ‘crime, misdeed’

Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘shine’

Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥g-ro-

Proto-Italic *flagros ‘burning’

Medieval Latin flāgrō ‘burn’

Latin dēlinquō ‘fail, be wanting’

Medieval Latin dēlīctum ‘crime, misdeed’

The story

Unadapted borrowing from Medieval Latin in flagrante delicto (literally “while the crime is blazing”), from in + flāgrō (‘burn’) + dēlictō, form of dēlīctum (‘crime, misdeed’).

Every English word from Medieval Latin in flagrante delicto

Today it means

adv In the act of committing a misdeed.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Medieval Latin in flagrante delicto / in flagrante delicto

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