caerimonialis

Forms

caerimōniālis (neuter caerimōniāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] Medieval texts also spell it caeremōniālis.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin caerimōnia (“sacred rite”) + -ālis.^[1][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Arnobius (297–310 AD) is the first to use it, in Adversus nationes, of the ritual duties by which the gods were honoured.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of a caerimonialis scientia, a knowledge of ritual,^[5][6] and Isidore of Seville, in a letter, of the ceremonies of the old law in which the flesh of animals was sacrificed.^[5]

Scholastic writers used the neuter plural caerimonialia for the ceremonial precepts of the Mosaic law, set beside its moral and judicial ones,^[2][3] and later also for Christian ceremonial.^[3] English ceremonial was borrowed from the Late Latin adjective,^[8] and Italian cerimoniale continues it too.^[9]

Timeline

• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of ritual duties to the gods.^[5][6][7]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of a knowledge of ritual.^[5][6][7]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it of the ceremonies of the old law.^[5][7]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as ceremonial.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to religious rites; ceremonial, ritual.^[4][5][6][1]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, neuter plural) Ceremonial precepts or regulations, especially those of the Mosaic law.^[2][3]

Related words

• caerimonia
• English ceremonial

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier