illegitimate | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

15 entries found.

1530s, "born out of wedlock," formed in English (and replacing earlier illegitime, c. 1500), modeled on Late Latin illegitimus "not legitimate" (see il- + legitimate). Sense of "unauthorized, unwarranted" is from 1640s. Phrase illegitimi non carborundum, usually "translated" as "don't let the bastards grind you down," is fake Latin (by 1965, said to date from c. 1939). Carborundum was a brand of abrasives. Related: Illegitimately.

illegitimacy (n.)

1670s; see illegitimate + -acy.

spurious (adj.)

1590s, "born out of wedlock," from Latin spurius "illegitimate, false" (source also of Italian spurio, Spanish espurio), from spurius (n.) "illegitimate child," probably from Etruscan spural "public." Sense of "having an irregular origin, not properly constituted" is from c. 1600; that of "false, sham" is from 1610s; of writing, etc., "not proceeding from the source pretended, 1620s. Related: Spuriously; spuriousness.

bastardize (v.)

1610s, "to identify as a bastard," from bastard (q.v.) + -ize. The figurative sense, "to make degenerate, debase" is earlier (1580s), probably because bastard also was serving as a verb meaning "to declare illegitimate" (1540s). Related: Bastardized; bastardizing; bastardization.

fitz (n.)

Anglo-French fitz, from Old French fils, from Latin filius "son of" (see filial); used regularly in official rolls and hence the first element of many modern surnames; in later times used of illegitimate issue of royalty.

misbegotten (adj.)

"bastard, illegitimate, unlawfully or irregularly begotten," 1550s, past-participle adjective from obsolete misbeget "beget wrongly or unlawfully" (c. 1300), from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + beget. "Used as a general epithet of opprobrium" [Century Dictionary].

git (n.)

"worthless person," 1946, British slang, a southern variant of Scottish get "illegitimate child, brat," which is attested by 1706 ("Gregor Burgess protested against the said Allane that called him a witch gyt or bratt"), according to "Dictionary of the Scots Language"); related to beget on the notion of "what is got." Scots get, gyt, geitt, etc. also can be an affectionate term for a child.

sagebrush (n.)

collective name for a type of dry, shrubby plant that grows over the vast dry plains of the western U.S., by 1846, from sage (n.1), to which it has no biological affinity, + brush (n.2). Said to be so called for resemblance of its appearance or odor.

Sage-brush is very fair fuel, but as a vegetable it is a distinguished failure. Nothing can abide the taste of it but the jackass and his illegitimate child, the mule. ["Mark Twain," "Roughing It"]

crib (v.)

c. 1600, "to shut or confine in a crib," from crib (n.). Meaning "to steal" (1748) originally was thieves' slang, probably from the noun in a secondary sense of "a basket."

This also is the probable source of student slang meaning "plagiarize; translate by means of a 'crib' " (1778). Crib (n.) in the sense of "literal translation of a classical author for illegitimate use by students" (often a Greek work rendered word-for-word into Latin) is from 1827. The meaning "something taken without permission, a plagiarism" is from 1834. Related: Cribbed; cribbing.

misfortune (n.)

mid-15c., "unfortunate event or circumstance," from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + fortune. From c. 1500 as "adversity or ill fortune for which the sufferer is not directly responsible." In 19c., it was a euphemism for "illegitimate child." Related: Misfortunate.

Mischance is the lightest word for that which is really disagreeable; a mishap may be comparatively a trivial thing; both generally apply to the experience of individuals. Misfortune is the most general of these words; a misfortune is a really serious matter; it may befall a person, family, or nation. A very serious misfortune affecting large numbers is a calamity, the central idea of which is wide-spread and general mischief. [Century Dictionary, 1895]

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