adiacentia

Forms

adiacentia f (genitive adiacentiae); first declension^[1][2] Medieval charters also spell it ⟨adiacencia⟩ and ⟨adjacentia⟩.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin adiaceō (“to lie near, adjoin”) + -ia.^[1][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Augustine, in his treatise on nature and grace, where it means a readiness of the will: he sets voluntātis adiacentia, “the will's being at hand”, beside a lack of perfection.^[1][2][6][4]

Semantic evolution

Augustine's sense, a good will that is ready to act, stayed rare.^[2][6] In the early Middle Ages the word took on the meaning of the neuter plural adiacentia, “the surroundings”: in Merovingian diplomas and formularies it is land lying next to an estate and belonging to it, an appurtenance.^[3][7][4] Charters use it in long lists of what goes with a property, and it could also mean a border strip or march, and the neighbourhood in general.^[3][4]

Scholastic writers in Britain gave it a philosophical sense, the adjoining of an attribute that does not belong to a thing's essence, as in adiacentia temporis in Roger Bacon and Wyclif.^[8] In Hungarian charters it is the position of a piece of land and its vicinity.^[9] Italian adiacenze “surroundings” comes from it.^[5]

Timeline

• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of the will's readiness.^[1][4]
• 6th century – Merovingian diplomas use it of land belonging to an estate.^[3][4]
• 13th century – British scholastic writers use it of an attribute joined to a thing.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A being at hand; the readiness of the will.^[1][2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) Land adjoining and belonging to an estate; an appurtenance.^[7][3][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) A border strip, march; the neighbourhood.^[3][4][9]
4. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) The adjoining of a non-essential attribute; nearness in time or quality.^[8]

Usage notes

Classical authors use only the neuter plural of the participle adiacentia, “the neighbouring parts”, in Pliny the Elder and Tacitus.^[10][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell