benevolus

Forms

benevolus (feminine benevola, neuter benevolum, comparative benevolentior, superlative benevolentissimus, adverb benevolē); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Often spelled benivolus in manuscripts and inscriptions.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin bene (“well”) + volō¹ (“to wish”), with the adjective ending -us: one who wishes well.^[2][1] De Vaan lists it beside malevolus (“ill-disposed”) and the participial adjectives benevolēns and malevolēns among the derivatives of the verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[5] who has benevolus “well-disposed” towards someone.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It describes people who are kindly or well-disposed towards someone, and by extension kindly feelings and acts;^[2] Seneca defines a benefit as a benevola āctiō.^[2] In rhetoric, making the hearer benevolus was one aim of the opening of a speech.^[3] Cicero uses it of a slave devoted to his master and, as a noun, for a well-wisher.^[3][2] L&S treats it as the classical word for the earlier benevolēns, from which it takes its comparative and superlative.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of someone well-disposed.^[3][5][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses the spelling benivolus.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of feelings, of a devoted slave and as a noun.^[2][3][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca defines a benefit as a benevola āctiō.^[2][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius calls a man nātūrā benevolentissimus.^[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Kind, friendly, benevolent, well-disposed.^[2][3]
2. (of feelings and actions) Kindly, friendly.^[2]
3. (of a slave) Devoted.^[3]

Noun

1. A well-wisher, friend.^[2]

Related words

• malevolus
• benevolentia

Usage notes

The grammarian Albinus held that benivolus should be written with ⟨i⟩, although it is compounded with the adverb bene.^[4] The comparative benevolentior and superlative benevolentissimus are formed from benevolēns.^[3][1] Benevolus was also a Roman surname.^[4]

References

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