Etymologically
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astutia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aːsˈtuː.ti.a], [asˈtuː.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [asˈtut.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

ā̆stūtia f (genitive ā̆stūtiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin astūtus (“cunning”) + -ia.[2][3][1] That adjective comes from astus (“craft”), of which Old Latin has only the ablative singular.[4] The Romans derived it from Ancient Greek ἄστυ (ástu, “town”), which Ernout and Meillet thought might be a play like urbānē (“wittily”), though de Vaan finds the dates of attestation against this;[4] Vendryes derived it from a stem meaning “standing by”, from astō (“to stand by”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] whose Epidicus has nunc ego hanc astūtiam īnstituī, “now I have set up this trick”.[2][3] An inscription from Falerii, of the 3rd or 2nd century BC, spells the ablative plural aastutieis.[2][1]

Semantic evolution

It is cunning, craft or cleverness, and a cunning procedure, trick or stratagem.[2][5] Lewis & Short say it first meant dexterity or adroitness, as Pacuvius has of the cleverness of understanding that wild beasts lack for their protection.[5] The glosses equate it with calliditās and Greek words for knavery and cunning.[3] In Church Latin it is also understanding or wisdom, as in the Vulgate's Proverbs, of giving shrewdness to the simple, and Stelten gives “subtlety, craftiness”.[5][6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a trick.[2][3][7]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius, of cleverness.[5][7]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, of shrewdness given to the simple.[5][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Cunning, craft, cleverness, astuteness.[2][5][1][6]
  2. A cunning trick, stratagem.[2][1]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Understanding, wisdom; subtlety.[5][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de