Etymologically
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avaritia

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [a.waːˈrɪ.ti.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [a.vaˈrit.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

avāritia f (genitive avāritiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin avārus (“greedy”) + -itia.[2][1] Avārus is from aveō “to be eager”, from Proto-Italic *awē-, Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-éh₁- (“to enjoy, consume”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character says greed was never born in him, he has riches enough.[3][2] Köbler's first source is Cicero.[4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant greed of gain, avarice, rapacity, and an act of greed, opposed by Suetonius to abstinentia; it also meant miserliness, stinginess, as Plautus' worry that people will call him mean.[2][5] Gaffiot gives the wider sense of eager desire, covetousness.[6]

In Christian and Medieval Latin it was greed, one of the deadly sins, as in Bede.[7] It survives in Italian avarizia and Spanish avaricia.[1] Through Old French it is the source of English avarice, recorded about 1300 as the fifth deadly sin.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of greed and meanness.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[4]
  • c. 1300 – English avarice is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Greed, avarice, rapacity.[2]
  2. Miserliness, stinginess.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com