activitas

Forms

āctīvitās f (genitive āctīvitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin āctīvus (“active”) + -tās.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the grammarian Probus, for the active form or meaning of a verb, as opposed to passivitas.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Later grammarians kept it as a term for the active.^[2][4] In scholastic philosophy it became the power of acting, activity or efficacy, as in Albertus Magnus,^[6][3] and British writers such as Duns Scotus and Bradwardine use it of the activity of the intellect or the will; in alchemy it was the action of a reagent.^[7]

Humanists and early modern writers kept it: Coluccio Salutati, Johann Eck on the activity of free will, and Francis Bacon.^[8] English took it over through French in about 1400, first for the active life.^[3]

Timeline

• 4th century AD – Probus uses it for the active form of a verb.^[4][2][9]
• c. 1400 – English borrows activity through French.^[3]
• 1519 – Johann Eck writes of the activitas of free will.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin, grammar) The active form or meaning of a verb.^[2][5][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) Activity, the power of acting; efficacy.^[6][7][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) Chemical action.^[7]

Related words

• āctuālis
• English activity

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson