scelus
Meaning
- neuteran evil deed; a wicked, heinous, or impious action
Cui prōdest scelus, is fēcit
He who benefits from the crime, commits it.“[...] et scelus expendisse merentem Lāocoönta ferunt, sacrum quī cuspide rōbur laeserit, et tergō scelerātam intorserit hastam.” “… and the evil deed merited punishment [for] Laocoön, they said, since he had violated the sacred wood [of the horse] with [his] spearhead [when he] hurled the profane weapon at [its] body.”
29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 2.229–231 - neuterwickedness, villainy
- neutercriminal, villain, felon, scoundrel, rascal, rogue
CHARĪNUS: Hem?! Quid ais, scelus?! At tibi Dī dignum factīs exitium duint!
CHARINUS: What?! What’s that you say, villain?! Yet may the Gods grant you an end appropriate to your deeds!166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 665–666
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
factum pessimum contrā fās.facinus, factum nefāriumfactum pessimum, crīmenChoosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Delictum · Peccatum · Malefactum · Maleficium · Facinus · Flagitium · Scelus · Nefas · Impietas
1. Delictum and peccatum denote the lighter sort of offences; delictum, more the transgression of positive laws, from levity; peccatum (from παχύς), rather of the laws of nature and reason, from indiscretion. 2. A synonyme and as it were a circumlocution of the above words is malefactum; whereas maleficium and facinus involve a direct moral reference; maleficium is any misdeed which, as springing from evil intention, deserves punishment; but facinus, a crime which, in addition to the evil intention, excites astonishment and alarm from the extraordinary degree of daring requisite thereto. 3. There are as many sorts of evil deeds, as there are of duties, against oneself, against others, against the gods; flagitium (from βλαγίς) is an offence against oneself, against one’s own honor, by gluttony, licentiousness, cowardice; in short, by actions which are not the consequence of unbridled strength, but of moral weakness, as evincing ignavia, and incurring shame; whereas scelus (σκληρόν) is an offence against others, against the right of individuals, or the peace of society, by robbery, murder, and particularly by sedition, by the display, in short, of malice; nefas (ἄφατον) is an offence against the gods, or against nature, by blasphemy, sacrilege, murder of kindred, betrayal of one’s country; in short, by the display of impietas, an impious outrage. Tac. G. 12. (ii. 139.)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | scelus | scelera |
| genitive | sceleris | scelerum |
| dative | scelerī | sceleribus |
| accusative | scelus | scelera |
| ablative | scelere | sceleribus |
| vocative | scelus | scelera |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- scelus supplicio expiare
- to expiate a crime by punishment.
- scelus facere, committere
- to commit crime.
- scelera moliri (Att. 7. 11)
- to meditate crime.
- (mens scelerum furiis agitatur)
- to be tormented by remorse.
- scelus (in se) concipere, suscipere
- to commit a crime and so make oneself liable to the consequences of it.
- scelus edere in aliquem (Sest. 26. 58)
- to commit a crime against some one.
- deprehendere aliquem in manifesto scelere
- to take a person in the act.
- scelus scelere cumulare (Catil. 1. 6. 14)
- to heap crime on crime.
4 more phrases
- scelere se devincire, se obstringere, astringi
- to commit a crime and so make oneself liable to the consequences of it.
- vitiis, sceleribus inquinatum, contaminatum, obrutum esse
- to be vicious, criminal.
- conscientia mala or peccatorum, culpae, sceleris, delicti
- a guilty conscience.
- vitiis, sceleribus contaminari or se contaminare (Off. 3. 8. 37)
- to be tainted with vice.
facinus est vincire civem Romanum, scelus verberare, prope parricidium necare, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 66, § 170; cf. so (opp. to flagitia and delicta) Tac. G. 12: majus in sese scelus concipere nefariis sceleribus coöpertus, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 4, § 9; id. Rosc. Am. 13, 37: detestabile scelus, id. Lael. 8, 27: scelus atque perfidia, id. Rosc. Am. 38, 109; so (with perfidia) id. Phil. 11, 2, 5; id. Att. 2, 22, 2; 3, 13, 2; Sall. J. 107, 2; Liv. 40, 39 al.; cf. (with audacia) Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 66, § 170; (with furor) id. ib. 2, 5, 62, § 161; (with avaritia) id. ib. 2, 5, 9, § 24; id. Clu. 8, 23: documentum Persarum sceleris, id. Rep. 3, 9, 15: ex hac parte pudor pugnat, illinc petulantia ... hinc pietas, illinc scelus, id. Cat. 2, 11, 25: scelus est igitur, nocere bestiae, quod scelus qui velit, etc., id. Rep. 3, 11, 19: quid mali aut sceleris fingi aut excogitari potest, quod, etc., id. Cat. 2, 4, 7: nefario scelere concepto, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 32, § 72: concipere in se, id. ib. 2, 1, 4, § 9 (v. supra): tantum sceleris admittere, id. Att. 9, 10, 3: scelus nefarium facere, id. de Or. 1, 51, 221; cf. id. Rosc. Am. 9, 25: perficere, id. Clu. 68, 194: scelus an-helare, id. Cat. 2, 1, 1: moliri, id. Att. 7, 11, 1: edere, id. Phil. 13, 9, 21; cf.: edere in aliquem, id. Sest. 27, 58: suscipere, id. Phil. 11, 1, 2: scelere se alligare, id. Fl. 17, 41: scelere astringi, id. Sest. 50, 108: scelere obstringi, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 32, § 71: obrui, Liv. 3, 19 et saep.—scelus legatorum contra jus gentium interfectorum, the crime of murdering their deputies, Liv. 4, 32.—Prov.: vulgo dicitur: Scelera non habere consilium, Quint. 7, 2, 44.—maximum salamandrae, id. 29, 4, 23, § 74: Scythae sagittas tingunt viperină sanie ... inremediabile id scelus, id. 11, 53, 115, § 279.—scelus viri, you scoundrel of a man, Plaut. Truc. 2, 7, 60.— With a masc. pron.: is me scelus attondit, etc., Plaut. Bacch. 5, 1, 9: ubi illic est scelus, quid me perdidit? Ter. And. 3, 5, 1; cf.: scelus, quemnam hic laudat? id. ib. 5, 2, 3.—perdidi unum filium puerum quadrimum ... Major potitus hostium est: quod hoc est scelus! Plaut. Capt. 3, 5, 104: Pa. Quid hoc est sceleris? Ch. Perii, Ter. Eun. 2, 3, 34 Ruhnk.; Mart. 7, 14, 1.—Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
Disputed. De Vaan derives the term from Proto-Italic *skelos, from Proto-Indo-European *skel-os ~ *skel-es-os n (“curve, bending”), from *skel- (“to curve, bend”). Cognate with Proto-Germanic *skelhaz (whence Dutch scheel, German scheel), Ancient Greek σκέλος (skélos), σκολιός (skoliós). Schrijver, however, adduces Old Armenian սխալեմ (sxalem, “to fail, be wanting, err”) and Sanskrit स्खलति (skhalati, “to stumble”) as cognates, both of which are otherwise derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- (“to stumble, misstep”). According to this theory, the root would be reconstructed as *(s)kh₁el-, which would explain the lack of the development *ke- to *ka- that is otherwise supported by Schrijver.
- Italianscelo
- Italianscelere