clericatus

Forms

clēricātus m (genitive clēricātūs); fourth declension^[1][2][3] A second-declension genitive clēricātī occurs in Gregory of Tours and in Merovingian texts.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is from Latin clēricus (“clergyman, cleric”) + -ātus, a noun of status or office.^[4][1][6] Georges and Köbler derive it from clērus (“the clergy”).^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jerome uses it often: he warns against abusing the honour of the clerical office in pride, and writes of one who understood it not as an honour but as a burden.^[4][1][7][6]

Semantic evolution

Popes' letters, Augustine, Cassian, Sulpicius Severus and the Theodosian Code use it of clerical rank and office:^[4] Augustine tells of a subdeacon removed from it and asks that deserters from monasteries not be chosen for it,^[4] Sidonius Apollinaris of a man who passed to it from secular life,^[4][2] and Gregory of Tours of a man who left his wife after entering it.^[4]

In Medieval Latin it meant holy orders and the clerical state, the act of ordination, the lower orders, the status of a monk or of a canon, a church post, a body of clerks and the clergy in general;^[3][5][6] in England it was used for benefit of clergy.^[8] Laurentius of Liège uses it for a single cleric.^[6] The TLL, after Meyer-Lübke, gives Italian chericato and French clergé as its descendants,^[4] and English clergy goes back partly to it through Old French.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome writes of the honour of the clerical office.^[4][1][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine tells of a subdeacon removed from it.^[4][6]
• 401 AD – A law in the Theodosian Code speaks of the clerical rank.^[4]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris tells of a man who passed to it from secular life.^[4][2][6]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours uses it of men entering the clergy.^[4][6]
• 1144 – Laurentius of Liège uses it for a cleric.^[6]
• 1194 – An English court roll uses it for benefit of clergy.^[8]
• c. 1200 – English clergy is recorded, partly from it through Old French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) The clerical office or rank; the state of a cleric.^{[1][7][4][10]}
2. (Medieval Latin) Holy orders; the act of ordination.^[3][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) The lower orders.^[3][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) The status of a monk or of a canon.^[3][5]
5. (Medieval Latin) A church post.^[5][6]
6. (Medieval Latin) A body of clerks; the clergy in general.^[3][5]
7. (Medieval Latin, law) Benefit of clergy.^[8]
8. (Medieval Latin) A cleric.^[6]

Related words

• English clergy

References

1. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c 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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson