civitas

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkiː.wɪ.taːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃiː.vi.tas]^[1]

Forms

cīvitās f (genitive cīvitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cīvis (“citizen”) + -tās.^[2][3][1] cīvis goes back to Proto-Italic *keiwi- (“society”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱei-wo- (“friendly, intimate”).^[3] Vine takes cīvis as an abstract “society” used of a single member, which explains why this noun and cīvīlis refer to the civic order rather than to one citizen.^[3] Isidore of Seville says a cīvitās is a multitude of people joined by a bond of society, named from the citizens, while the urbs is the walls.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character wishes that the state would be more harmonious.^[3][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant an organized community, a state, the citizens who make it up, and a state as a place, usually a city with its district, as Plautus' question which city to go to.^[2] It also meant the rights of a citizen, citizenship, with cīvitās sine suffrāgiō “citizenship without the vote”, and figuratively the naturalization of a foreign word in Latin, as Quintilian's eurus.^[2] Döderlein distinguishes gēns and nātiō, a people by descent, from populus and cīvitās, a people as a political body.^[6]

In Late and Medieval Latin it was an administrative district of the empire, a diocese, and an episcopal city, and in Christian usage cīvitās Deī was the Church and the heavenly city.^[7][8] It survives in Italian città, French cité and Spanish ciudad.^[1] Through Old French cite it is the source of English city, recorded about 1200.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a state and a city.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the state and of citizenship.^[5][10]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines it.^[4][5]
• c. 1200 – English city is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An organized community, state.^[2]
2. The citizens of a state.^[2]
3. A city with its district.^[2]
4. Citizenship.^[2]
5. (figurative) Naturalization (of a word).^[2]
6. (Late and Medieval Latin) An administrative district; a diocese; an episcopal city.^[7][8]

Word family

• cīvitātula

Related words

• cīvicus
• cīvīle
• cīvīlis
• cīvīlitās
• cīvīliter
• cīvis
• urbs
• English city

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press