Etymologically
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castitas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkas.tɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkas.ti.tas][1]

Forms

castitās f (genitive castitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin castus (“pure, chaste”) + -tās.[2][1][3] Etymonline glosses castus as “cut off, separated; pure”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,[5] in the De legibus, saying that women should understand that their nature can bear complete chastity.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call the sense “chastity” rare but classical, with pudīcitia as its synonym.[6] Horace uses it of a wife's fidelity, and Valerius Maximus of a son of doubtful chastity.[2] Vitruvius uses it of moral integrity, saying that no work can be done without good faith and integrity,[2] and Gellius of purity of life and of the ceremonial purity required to enter temples.[6][2] The grammarian Nonius says it is more than pudīcitia, since it adds religious cleanness.[3] It has no plural.[3] Church Latin uses it for chastity and purity.[7] Through Old French it gave English chastity about 1200.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of women's chastity.[2][6][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of a wife's fidelity.[2][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of integrity.[2][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius, of ceremonial purity.[2][5]
  • c. 1200 – English chastity, through Old French.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Moral purity, integrity.[2][6][1]
  2. Chastity; of married women, fidelity; virginity, continence.[2][6][1][7]
  3. Ceremonial purity.[2]

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 i j k l 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson