Etymologically
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benevolus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [bɛˈnɛ.wɔ.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [beˈnɛː.vo.lus][1]

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]

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