agentia

Forms

agēntia f (genitive agēntiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin agēns (“doing, acting”) + -ia, an abstract noun from the present participle of agō (“to drive, do”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest example is in Anselm of Canterbury's dialogue on truth: considered from what it does, an action is more properly called agentia and percutientia; considered from what it undergoes, it is āctiō and percussiō:^[3][4] agency, action seen from the side of the one who acts.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It remained a word of scholastic philosophy.^[3] Thomas Bradwardine writes that providence implies an act or a kind of agentia, and Wyclif calls agentia the accidental form by which an agent is named an agent, the source of its motion.^[3] Wiktionary gives it the medieval sense “ability”.^[1]

English agency, from the 1650s, is taken from it.^[2]

Timeline

• late 11th century – Anselm of Canterbury opposes agentia to āctiō.^[3][4]
• 1650s – English agency “active operation” is formed from it.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) agency, action considered on the side of the agent.^[3]
2. (Medieval Latin) Ability.^[1]

Related words

• agēns
• agō
• English agency

Usage notes

Niermeyer records an agentia meaning “farm, rural establishment”,^[5] which Köbler treats as a variant of aisantia.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill