"depravity, evil or corrupt state, wickedness," 1540s, from Latin pravitas "crookedness, distortion, deformity; impropriety, perverseness," from pravus "wrong, bad," literally "crooked," a word of unknown etymology.
early 15c., perversite, "wickedness," from Old French perversité "depravity, degeneracy" (12c.), from Latin perversitatem (nominative perversitas) "forwardness, untowardness," from perversus (see perverse). From 1520s as "perverse character, disposition, or conduct."
Roman emperor 54-68 C.E., born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, noted in history for his tyrannical and cruel disposition and moral depravity, the fire in 64 which destroyed much of Rome and which he was accused of setting, and his persecution of Christians. Related: Neronian; Neronic.
early 15c., dejeccioun, "unhappy condition, degradation, humiliation;" c. 1500, "state of being depressed or in low spirits," from Old French dejection "abjection, depravity; a casting down" and directly from Latin deiectionem (nominative deiectio), noun of action from past-participle stem of deicere "to cast down," from de- "down" (see de-) + -icere, combining form of iacere "to throw" (from PIE root *ye- "to throw, impel"). The literal sense "act of casting down" (1680s) is rare in English.
"depravity, infamy, inherent baseness or vileness," late 15c., from Old French turpitude (early 15c.), from Latin turpitudinem (nominative turpitudo) "baseness," from turpis "vile, foul, physically ugly, base, unsightly," figuratively "morally ugly, scandalous, shameful," a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan finds proposed connections to IE words meaning "to turn" (via the notion of "to turn away") as "too constructed" to be credible. Klein suggests perhaps originally "what one turns away from" (compare Latin trepit "he turns").
early 14c., "first in time, earliest," from Old French original "first" (13c.) and directly from Latin originalis, from originem (nominative origo) "beginning, source, birth," from oriri "to rise" (see origin). The first reference is to sin, synne original, "innate depravity of man's nature," supposed to be inherited from Adam in consequence of the Fall (the modern word order original sin is from 15c.). Also from late 14c., "pertaining to or characteristic of the first stage of anything. Meaning "produced directly by an author, artist, etc." is from 1630s; that of "fresh, novel, new, striking" is by 1782. Related: Originally.
mid-14c., corrupcioun, of material things, especially dead bodies, "act of becoming putrid, dissolution, decay;" also of the soul, morals, etc., "spiritual contamination, depravity, wickedness," from Latin corruptionem (nominative corruptio) "a corruption, spoiling, seducing; a corrupt condition," noun of action from past-participle stem of corrumpere "to destroy; spoil," figuratively "corrupt, seduce, bribe" (see corrupt (adj.)).
Meaning "putrid matter" is from late 14c. Of public offices, "bribery or other depraving influence," from early 15c.; of language, "perversion, vitiation," from late 15c. Meaning "a corrupt form of a word" is from 1690s.
late 14c., "common, ordinary," from Latin vulgaris, volgaris "of or pertaining to the common people, common, vulgar, low, mean," from vulgus, volgus "the common people, multitude, crowd, throng," for which de Vaan offers no further etymology.
The meaning "coarse, low, ill-bred" is recorded by 1640s, probably from earlier use (with reference to people) in the meaning "belonging to the ordinary class" (1520s). Chaucer uses peplish for "vulgar, common, plebeian" (late 14c.). Related: Vulgarly.
What we have added to human depravity is again a thoroughly Roman quality, perhaps even a Roman invention: vulgarity. That word means the mind of the herd, and specifically the herd in the city, the gutter, and the tavern. [Guy Davenport, "Wheel Ruts"]
For Vulgar Latin, see here.
