Etymologically
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brutalis

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Forms

brūtālis (neuter brūtāle); third-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin brūtus (“dull, irrational”) + -ālis.[1][2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in the Soliloquia ascribed to Augustine, where the neuter plural brūtālia means the irrational animals.[1][2][3]

Semantic evolution

It became common in scholastic and later Latin.[5][6] The MLW gives it first the strict sense, belonging to an irrational animal: Albertus Magnus sets the vegetative and the animal natures below one that has free will.[5] From there it came to mean like an animal in nature or behaviour, often close to “stupid”, and as a neuter noun the animal side of a person.[5] English authors used it of beasts and of men: Roger Bacon speaks of vile and brutal pleasures.[7] Niermeyer glosses it as stupid, rough and rude.[8] A medieval comedy quoted by Du Cange has rem nōn hūmānam nārrās, sed brūtālem, “you tell of a thing not human but brutish”.[9] A Hungarian document of 1457 says a corpse was left lying in its blood for days like a beast's carcass, quasi brūtāle cadāver;[10] Polish chronicles and Czech sources use it for wild and bestial behaviour.[4][11]

Neo-Latin authors kept it: Pico della Mirandola distinguishes a human and a brutal degree of imagination.[6] It is the source of German brutal.[3]

Timeline

  • undated – The Soliloquia ascribed to Augustine use brūtālia for irrational animals.[1][2][3]
  • 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it of the animal nature.[5][3]
  • 1457 – A Hungarian document compares a corpse to a beast's carcass.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) Of or belonging to an irrational animal; animal.[1][5][7]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Like a beast; brutish, bestial; stupid, coarse, rough.[5][8][7][11]
  3. (neuter plural as a noun) Irrational animals, brutes.[1][2][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  2. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  5. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
  7. ^ a b c 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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  10. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
  11. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences