caritas

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkaː.rɪ.taːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaː.ri.tas]^[1]

Forms

cāritās f (genitive cāritātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from cārus “dear, costly” with the suffix -tās.^[2][1][3][4] Isidore explains the Christian word as Latin ⟨dīlectiō⟩, love of God and of one's neighbour.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Cato, of dearness, high price.^[2] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It first meant dearness, a high price, as Cato and Cicero's cāritās annōnae “dearness of grain”, opposed to vīlitās.^[2][7][8] From Cicero it meant love, affection, esteem, for persons or things, as for one's country or parents, and it was used as a term of endearment.^[2][8] Döderlein explains that dīligere is love arising from esteem, while amāre is love arising from inclination.^[9]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant charity, love, esteem, affection.^[10] Medieval Latin used it for almsgiving and for a meal of brotherhood, and British Medieval Latin still for dearth and high prices.^[11][12] It survives in Italian carità and French charité, and in the high-price sense French cherté.^[1] Old French charité gave English charity in late Old English.^[1][4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of high price.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of affection and of dear grain.^[2][7][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore uses it of Christian love.^[5][6]
• late Old English – charity is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Dearness, high price.^[2]
2. Love, affection, esteem; a term of endearment.^[2]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Charity, Christian love.^[10]
4. (Medieval Latin) Almsgiving; a meal of brotherhood.^[11]

Related words

• cārus
• English charity
• English cherish

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ 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