brevitas

Forms

brevitās f (genitive brevitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin brevis (“short”) + -tās.^[2][1] De Vaan traces brevis to Proto-Italic *mreχ-u(-i-) and Proto-Indo-European *mr̥ǵʰ-ú- (“short”), an old ⟨u⟩-stem adjective enlarged with ⟨*i⟩ in Latin.^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of the short quantity of a letter,^[2] and Köbler's first source is Lucretius, who has it of the small size of a seed.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is shortness of distance or narrowness, as Gellius' narrowness of a strait, and shortness of stature, as Caesar's remark that the Gauls despised Roman shortness.^[2][5] It is also smallness of size, and above all shortness of time, as Cicero's brevity of life.^[2] Of speech and writing it is brevity, as Cicero's plea that the jury should not weigh the charges by the shortness of his speech, and in rhetoric concise style, which Cicero defines as using no word that is not needed.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “shortness”.^[6] English brevity is from about 1500.^[7]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of short quantity.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of small size.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the shortness of life and of brevity of style.^[2][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of short stature.^[2][4]
• c. 1500 – Borrowed into English as brevity.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Shortness of distance, narrowness; short stature.^[2][5][1]
2. Smallness of size or quantity.^[2]
3. Shortness of time; shortness of life.^[2][5][1]
4. Brevity of speech or writing; conciseness.^[2][5][1]
5. (prosody) Short quantity.^[2]

Related words

• brevī
• breviārius
• breviātiō
• breviātor
• breviculus
• breviloquēns
• breviloquentia
• breviloquium
• breviloquus
• breviō
• brevis
• brūma

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 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com