iustus

See also: justus and Justus

Latin

Alternative forms

• jūstus

Etymology

From Old Latin iovestos, from Proto-Italic *jowestos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew-. By surface analysis, iūs +‎ -tus.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈi̯uːs.tus/, [ˈi̯uːs̠t̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈjus.tus/, [ˈjust̪us]

Adjective

iūstus (feminine iūsta, neuter iūstum, comparative iūstior, superlative iūstissimus); first/second-declension adjective

1. just, righteous
2. lawful, legal

   Synonym: lēgitimus

3. justified, merited, well-deserved, due
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 26.1:

     Ea tum cura maxime intentos habebat Romanos, non ab ira tantum, quae in nullam unquam ciuitatem iustior fuit, quam quod urbs tam nobilis ac potens, sicut defectione sua traxerat aliquot populos, ita recepta inclinatura rursus animos uidebatur ad ueteris imperii respectum.

     This concern in particular troubled the mindful Romans at the time, not so much because of anger, which has never been more justified against any other city, rather because a city so noble and powerful, in the same way that it had attracted the support of a number of communities by its revolt, was thought would again turn attention back towards respect for the previous government once recaptured.

4. proper, perfect, complete, reasonable, suitable, sufficient

   Synonyms: opportūnus, commodus, habilis, aptus, idōneus, dignus, conveniēns, lēgitimus, ūtilis

   Antonyms: incommodus, inūtilis, ineptus, irritus, grātuītus

5. (figurative) exact, straight, direct

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	iūstus	iūsta	iūstum		iūstī	iūstae	iūsta
genitive	iūstī	iūstae	iūstī		iūstōrum	iūstārum	iūstōrum
dative	iūstō	iūstae	iūstō		iūstīs
accusative	iūstum	iūstam	iūstum		iūstōs	iūstās	iūsta
ablative	iūstō	iūstā	iūstō		iūstīs
vocative	iūste	iūsta	iūstum		iūstī	iūstae	iūsta

Derived terms

• iūstificus
• iūstitia

Descendants

• Eastern Romance
  • Aromanian: giustu (perhaps borrowed, either directly or through an intermediate language)
• Gallo-Italic
  • Piedmontese: giust
  • Romagnol: gióst, jóst
• Italo-Dalmatian
  • Dalmatian: jost
  • Italian: giusto
    • → English: giusto
  • Sicilian: giustu, justu
• Old French: juste
  • French: juste
    • → Franco-Provençal: j·usto
    • → Romanian: just
  • Norman: juste
  • → Middle Dutch: juust
    • Dutch: juist (see there for further descendants)
  • → Middle English: juste (see there for further descendants)
• Old Occitan:
  • Old Catalan: just
    • Catalan: just
  • Occitan: just
• Rhaeto-Romance
  • Friulian: just
  • Ladin: giust
  • Romansch: gist
• Sardinian: giustu, zustu
• Venetan: justo, xusto, giusto, giust
• West Iberian
  • Aragonese: chusto
  • Asturian: xustu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: xusto
    • Portuguese: justo
      • Kabuverdianu: justu
      • → Indonesian: justru (“precisely so”)
      • → Tetum: justu
  • Old Spanish: justo
    • Ladino: djusto
    • Spanish: justo

Borrowings

• → Cimbrian: jüsto
• → German: just
• → Swedish: just
  • → Finnish: just

References

1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “iūs, -ris (> Derivatives: iūstus)”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 316-7

Further reading

• “justus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “iustus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• iustus 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)
• iustus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to perform the last rites for a person: iusta facere, solvere alicui
    
  • to be deprived of the rites of burial: iustis exsequiarum carere
    
  • for valid reasons: iustis de causis
    
  • soldiers collected in haste; irregulars: milites tumultuarii (opp. exercitus iustus) (Liv. 35. 2)
    
  • a regular, formal war: bellum iustum (pium)
    
  • a pitched battle: proelium iustum (opp. tumultuarium)
    
  • to fight a pitched, orderly battle with an enemy: iusto (opp. tumultuario) proelio confligere cum hoste (Liv. 35. 4)
    
  • with perfect right: iusto iure
    
• “iustus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers