caelibatus

Forms

caelibātus m (genitive caelibātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin caelebs (“unmarried”) + -ātus.^[2][1][3] The origin of caelebs itself is uncertain: de Vaan finds a good alternative to the older reconstructions in the European word Proto-Indo-European *keh₂i-lo- (“whole”), through a noun for “wholeness” that may have come to mean “unboundness, celibacy”; the origin of its ⟨-b-⟩ remains unclear.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Seneca's De beneficiis,^[2][4] meaning the state of being unmarried, celibacy.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that the word is post-Augustan and that single life was severely punished by the Julian and Papian-Poppaean laws.^[5] Suetonius uses it of men reproached for not marrying, and the jurist Gaius uses it in a legal sense.^[2] Georges sets it against viduitas, the state of a widow.^[6]

Christian writers gave it a religious value: Fulgentius equates it with virginal abstinence,^[3] and medieval authors from Aldhelm on use it for virginity and the unmarried life.^[7][8] English celibate was first a noun for this state (1610s), borrowed from French célibat.^[9]

Timeline

• 4 BC–AD 65 – Seneca uses it for the unmarried state.^[2][10]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of men reproached for remaining single.^[2][10]
• 140–180 AD – The jurist Gaius uses it in his Institutes.^[2][10]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm links it with virginity.^[7][10]
• 1610s – English borrows celibate through French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of not being married, single life, celibacy.^[2][5]
2. (Ecclesiastical and Medieval Latin) virginity, a life without marriage chosen for religious reasons.^[8][7][11]

Related words

• English celibate
• English celibacy

Usage notes

Georges and Gaffiot record a separate caelibātus “heavenly life, the life of the gods”, formed from caelum², found only in Iulius Valerius (4th century AD).^[6][12][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
12. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.