absurditas

Forms

absurditās f (genitive absurditātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin absurdus (“out of tune; senseless”) + -tās.^[2][3][4] The adjective is made of ab- and surdus (“deaf”); since “deaf” can mean both “who cannot hear” and “who is not heard”, de Vaan explains absurdus as “unheard of”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Augustine is its first author, using it of things that make no sense, in the plural as well.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Priscian used it of a discordant sound, the literal sense of its base,^[7][8][9] and Claudianus Mamertus has it too.^[2] It was mostly a word of Christian writers, Augustine above all.^[7][10]

In medieval Latin it meant a musical dissonance as well as unreasonableness;^[11] British sources have both senses, the second of the excesses of certain religious in a letter of 1300.^[12] Leonardo Bruni spoke of the absurdity of a translation.^[10] English borrowed it in the late 15th century as absurdite,^[4] and Conte derives Italian assurdità from the Late Latin word.^[9]

Timeline

• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it for an absurdity.^[6][3]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Claudianus Mamertus uses it.^[2][3]
• 6th century AD – Priscian uses it of a discordant sound.^[7][6][3]
• 1300 – A letter in the Canterbury registers speaks of the absurditates of certain religious.^[12]
• late 15th century – Borrowed into English as absurdity.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) Dissonance, a discordant sound.^[7][9][6]
2. (Late Latin) Incongruity, absurdity.^[2][7][13]
3. (Medieval Latin, music) A lack of harmony in a chant.^[11]

Related words

• absurdus
• surdus
• English absurdity

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
11. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson