coaevus

Forms

coaevus (feminine coaeva, neuter coaevum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin co- + aevum, “of the same age”.^[2][3][4] aevum (“period of time, age”) goes back to Proto-Italic *aiwo- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ó/éi-u- (“a long time, lifetime”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first witness in the TLL is Marius Victorinus, in the first half of the 4th century AD, who uses it of darkness and light being of equal age.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Christian writers used it in arguments about creation and the Trinity: Hilary denies that darkness is coeval with God, and Augustine argues how the Son can be coeval with the Father who begot him, distinguishing it from coaeternus.^[2] Augustine also uses it of a friend of his own age.^[2] The Vulgate has it in Daniel, and Prudentius in his hymns.^[3] In Medieval Latin it was also a noun, a person of the same age.^[7][8]

Timeline

• first half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus uses it.^[2][6]
• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers uses it of darkness and God.^[2][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it often.^[2][3][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Book of Daniel.^[3][6]
• c. 866 – Rimbert's Life of Ansgar uses it.^[6]
• 1620s – English borrows it as coeval.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Of the same age, coeval, contemporary.^[3][2][7]

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin, Medieval Latin) A person of the same age, a contemporary.^[8][7]

Related words

• aevum
• English coeval

Usage notes

Augustine distinguishes it from coaeternus “coeternal”.^[2] Glosses explain it as coaetaneus, of the same age.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson