claritudo

Forms

clāritūdō f (genitive clāritūdinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin clārus (“clear, famous”) + -tūdō.^[2][1][3] The adjective clārus goes back to Proto-Italic *klāros (“loud”) and Proto-Indo-European *kl̥h₁-ró- (“loud, sonorous”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call”); the shift from “loud” to “clear, bright” is also seen in Old High German hel (“loud”).^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato,^[3][4] who speaks of “the greatest glory and the highest renown”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a by-form of clāritās.^[5][6] Its usual sense is distinction or fame: Sallust uses it a few times and Tacitus very often, but it is not found in Cicero, Caesar, Quintilian or Suetonius.^[5] The literal sense, brightness, is rare, as in Tacitus' brightness of the moon goddess; inscriptions on eye salves use it of clear vision, and Gellius of the clearness of an actor's voice.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of renown.^[2][3][4]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust of fame.^[5][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, who uses it very often, also of the moon's brightness.^[2][5][4]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius of the clearness of a voice.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Distinction, fame, renown.^[2][5][1]
2. Brightness; clearness of vision.^[2][1]
3. Clearness of the voice.^[2]

Related words

• clārus
• clāritās

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 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften