audacia

Forms

audācia f (genitive audāciae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin audāx (“bold, daring”) + -ia.^[2][1] audāx is from audeō (“to dare”),^[3] which de Vaan derives from avidus (“greedy”): it first meant “to want very much”, as the relic ⟨sōdēs⟩ “if you please”, from ⟨*sī audēs⟩, shows in Plautus, and later “to dare”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[3] who speaks of a man quoi nūlla in pectore est audācia, “who has no courage in his heart”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In a good sense audācia is “daring, boldness, confidence”, a bold act, and with a genitive a bold resolve;^[2][5] Sallust has Cato say that boldness in wrongdoing is called courage.^[2][5] L&S note that it is more often used in a bad sense: “audacity, impudence, recklessness, rashness”, as in Terence's audāciam meretrīcum spectā, “look at the effrontery of these courtesans”, and a piece of impudence (Plautus: quae istaec audāciast?, “what impudence is this?”).^[2][5][1] Celsus uses it of the violent conduct of the insane.^[2] Of style and words it is boldness, licence (Ovid: sī verbīs audācia dētur, “if words may be allowed some boldness”).^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “boldness, bravery, courage, valour”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: nūlla in pectore est audācia;^[2][3] quae istaec audāciast?.^[2][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: audāciam meretrīcum spectā.^[2][3]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it in the good and the bad sense.^[2][5][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of boldness in words.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Daring, boldness, courage; a bold act.^[2][5][1][6]
2. audacity, impudence, recklessness, rashness; a piece of impudence.^[2][5][1]
3. Violent conduct (of the insane).^[2]
4. Boldness, licence (of words or style).^[2]

Related words

• audāciter
• audacter
• audāculus
• audāx
• audeō
• avidus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson