celeritas

Forms

celeritās f (genitive celeritātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin celer (“swift”) + -tās.^[2][1] De Vaan traces celer to Proto-Italic *keli- and Proto-Indo-European *kel-i- (“speeding”), cognate with Ancient Greek κέλομαι (kélomai, “to urge on”) and κέλης (kélēs, “racehorse”).^[3] A Late Latin grammarian explained such nouns as formed from the dative, ⟨celerī⟩ → ⟨celeritās⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which recommends the greatest speed (maximā celeritāte) in passages of amplification.^[5][2] The OLD's main citations for speed of movement are Cicero's: in the Topica the opposite of celeritās is slowness, not weakness.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first the speed of a body or a thing (Cicero's ship of incredible speed under sail), then speed of action and dispatch, as in Cicero's hoc bellum indiget celeritātis, “this war needs speed”.^[2] It is used of the swift passing of time (a pain is made bearable by its brevity) and of quickness of mind, which Cicero says shows itself in replying.^[2] In a bad sense it is excessive haste: Livy has a speaker say that nothing is so hostile to deliberation on a weighty matter as haste.^[2] It can also mean earliness, as of a speedy return.^[2] Cicero defines it as the bodily quality that is also praised in the mind, and Lewis & Short give vēlōcitās and pernīcitās as near-synonyms and tarditās as its opposite.^[6]

Celeritās also appears as a goddess in Martianus Capella.^[4] English celerity came through Old French in the late 15th century.^[7]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – Rhetorica ad Herennium of speed in speaking.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of speed of movement, action and mind.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of rash haste.^[2][5]
• late 15th century – English celerity, through Old French.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. speed, swiftness, quickness of movement.^[2][1][8]
2. Speed of action, dispatch; quickness in passing.^[2]
3. Quickness of mind.^[2]
4. Excessive speed, haste.^[2]
5. Earliness, speediness (of an event).^[2]

Related words

• celer
• English celerity

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson