Etymologically
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ambiguitas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [am.bɪˈɡu.ɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [am.biˈɡuː.i.tas][1]

Forms

ambiguitās f (genitive ambiguitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ambiguus (“doubtful, of double meaning”) + -tās.[2][1] De Vaan lists that adjective, beside ambigō (“to dispute”), among the compounds of agō (“to drive, do”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in Cicero's De inventione, of the double meaning of a word.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is the quality of having more than one meaning, ambiguity:[2][4] Livy speaks of the ambiguity of a word, and Quintilian treats it as a term of rhetoric, the equivalent of Greek amphibolia.[6] Concretely, in the plural, it is an ambiguous expression: Seneca speaks of leaving aside ambiguities, syllogisms and quibbles, and Quintilian mentions far-fetched ambiguities.[2] More generally it is uncertainty; in the Vulgate something that comes to pass sine ambiguitāte happens without fail.[4]

In medieval Latin it meant doubt.[7] English took over ambiguity about 1400, from Old French and directly from Latin, first in the sense of uncertainty or hesitation.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the double meaning of a word.[4][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of the ambiguity of a word.[4][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses the plural of ambiguous arguments.[2][5]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it as a term of rhetoric.[6][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has sine ambiguitāte, “without fail”.[4][5]
  • c. 1400 – English borrows it as ambiguity.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Double meaning, ambiguity, equivocalness.[2][4]
  2. (concrete) An ambiguous expression.[2]
  3. Uncertainty;[4][7] (Medieval Latin) doubt.[4][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com