flocci non facio
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Latin
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Literally, “I do not make it to be worth a trifle”. Floccī is the genitive singular of floccus (“wisp, trifle”), acting as a “genitive of value”.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈflok.kiː noːn ˈfa.ki.oː/, [ˈfɫ̪ɔkːiː noːn ˈfäkioː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈflot.t͡ʃi non ˈfa.t͡ʃi.o/, [ˈflɔtː͡ʃi nɔn ˈfäːt͡ʃio]
Phrase
[edit]- (idiomatic) I don't care; I don't give a damn (about); I don't give a fuck; I don't give a flying fuck; I don't give a shit; I don't give a rat's ass.
- 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Letters to Atticus 4.15.4:
- ex quo intellectum est τρισαρειοπαγίτας ambitum, comitia, interregnum, maiestatem, totam denique rem publicam flocci non facere
- From which I understand that the three-times-Areopagites [i.e., vaunted judges] don’t give a damn about bribery, the comitia, the interregnum, lèse majesté, or for that matter the entire commonwealth
- ex quo intellectum est τρισαρειοπαγίτας ambitum, comitia, interregnum, maiestatem, totam denique rem publicam flocci non facere
References
[edit]- “floccus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “~ī nōn faciō” under “floccus” on page 713/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)