inutilis

Latin

Etymology

From in- +‎ ūtilis.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /iˈnuː.ti.lis/, [ɪˈnuːt̪ɪlʲɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /iˈnu.ti.lis/, [iˈnuːt̪ilis]

Adjective

inūtilis (neuter inūtile, adverb inūtiliter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. useless, unserviceable, unprofitable
2. hurtful, injurious
3. (law) void, null, invalid, without any legal use
   • Gai. Inst. III.100

     Denique inutilis est talis stipulatio, si quis ita dari stipuletur: «post mortem meam dari spondes?» vel ita: «post mortem tuam dari spondes?» Valet autem, si quis ita dari stipuletur: «cum moriar, dari spondes?» vel ita: «cum morieris, dari spondes?», id est, ut in novissimum vitae tempus stipulatoris aut promissoris obligatio conferatur: nam inelegans esse visum est ab heredis persona incipere obligationem. Rursum ita stipulari non possumus: «pridie quam moriar», aut«pridie quam morieris, dari spondes?» quia non potest aliter intellegi «pridie quam aliquis morietur», quam si mors secuta sit; rursus morte secuta in praeteritum reducitur stipulatio et quodam modo talis est: «heredi meo, dari spondes?» quae sane inutilis est.

     Lastly such a stipulation is ineffective if somebody says: “Do you pledge that after my death there will be given?” or so: “Do you pledge that after your death there will be given?” But it is valid when somebody stipulates so that there will be given: “When I die, will there be given?” or so: “When you die, will there be given?”, that is, that the obligation is put to the latest life time of the stipulator or promiser. For it has been deemed unfine if an obligation beings from the person of a heir. In turn we cannot stipulate like this: “The day before I die”, or ”the day before you die, will there be given?” for one cannot understand “the day before someone dies” before death has followed; in turn when death has followed the stipulation is rolled back and means in some wise: “Do you pledge that to my heir there will be given?” which is forsooth void.

   • Dig. XLV.I.61 Iulianus libro secundo ad Urseium Ferocem

     Stipulatio hoc modo concepta: «si heredem me non feceris, tantum dare spondes?» inutilis est, quia contra bonos mores est haec stipulatio.

     A stipulation held in such a wise: “Do you promise me that if you do not make me a heir you give me that much?” is void, because it is against the good mores.

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	inūtilis	inūtile		inūtilēs	inūtilia
genitive	inūtilis			inūtilium
dative	inūtilī			inūtilibus
accusative	inūtilem	inūtile		inūtilēs inūtilīs	inūtilia
ablative	inūtilī			inūtilibus
vocative	inūtilis	inūtile		inūtilēs	inūtilia

References

• “inutilis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “inutilis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• inutilis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• inutilis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • men exempt from service owing to age: qui per aetatem arma ferre non possunt or aetate ad bellum inutiles