adversitas

Forms

adversitās f (genitive adversitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin adversus (“turned against, hostile”) + -tās,^[2][3][4] the adjective being the past participle of advertō (“to turn towards”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder has it once, in a technical sense: certain things have a strong power of counteracting scorpions, that is, they work as an antidote.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word reappears from the end of the 4th century, when Christian writers took to it.^[5] It then meant enmity and hostility, as in Augustine and Gregory the Great,^[5][7] and above all adversity and misfortune, the opposite of prosperitas, in Augustine and Cassiodorus.^[6][3][8]

Medieval Latin kept both senses,^[9] and also used it for a hostile act or attack.^[10][11] It was common in Neo-Latin, where Beschi has it fourteen times.^[12] English took adversity from Old French around 1200;^[4] Italian avversità also continues the Latin word.^[8]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for the power of a substance to act against scorpions.^[2][13]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it for hostility and for misfortune.^[5][8][13]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it for misfortune.^[3][6][13]
• c. 1200 – English borrows adversity through Old French.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) The power of counteracting; efficacy as an antidote.^[2][7]
2. (Late Latin) Enmity, hostility, opposition.^[5][7][9]
3. (Late Latin) Adversity, misfortune, calamity.^[3][6][14]
4. (Medieval Latin) A hostile act, an attack or injury.^[10][11]

Related words

• adversus
• advertō
• English adversity

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
13. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
14. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson