Etymologically
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captivitas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kapˈtiː.wɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kapˈtiː.vi.tas][1]

Forms

captīvitās f (genitive captīvitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin captīvus (“captive”) + -tās.[2][1][3] De Vaan derives captīvus from the verb capiō (“to take, seize”), perhaps through a noun *kap-ti-, and traces the verb to Proto-Italic *kap-i- (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- or a non-Indo-European *kap-, comparing Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Köbler find it first in Seneca the philosopher,[3][5] who speaks of openly wishing captivity on someone.[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.[6] It is the state of a captive, bondage: Tacitus uses it of a city in the bitterest captivity, and Apuleius of bears worn out by long captivity.[2] It is also the act of capture, as of Jugurtha in Frontinus.[2] Apuleius uses it of blindness, of eyes wept almost to blindness.[2] In medieval Latin it can mean a crowd of prisoners.[7] Church Latin glosses it captivity, bondage.[8]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of wishing captivity on someone.[2][3][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of a captured city.[2][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of captive bears and of blindness.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Captivity, bondage; of a city, subjection.[2][6][1][8]
  2. The act of being captured, capture.[2][1]
  3. Blindness.[2][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A host of prisoners.[7]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson