coincidentia

Forms

coincidentia f (genitive coincidentiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin coincidēns (“coinciding”) + -ia,^[1][2] from the present participle of coincidō (“to coincide”).^[3][2] That verb is itself a medieval compound, “to fall upon together”, of con- and incidō¹ (“to fall upon”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotations in the DMLBS are from Roger Bacon, who asks about the coincidence of causes, whether the efficient and the formal cause coincide, and speaks of the coinciding of lines and of two acute accents falling together.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of scholastic philosophy and science for things that fall together or agree.^[6][5][2] Nicholas of Cusa speaks of admitting the coincidentia oppositōrum, the coincidence of opposites, beyond all the capacity of reason,^[7] Regiomontanus of the coincidence of true places or elongations from the Sun, and Giordano Bruno of the coincidence of the smallest with the greatest.^[7] In the art of letter-writing it meant like endings or rhyme, which one Hungarian treatise forbids,^[8] and a Polish grammar warns against a coincidence of words.^[2]

English coincidence came from it through French around 1600,^[4] and German Koinzidenz goes back to it.^[3]

Timeline

• 1267 – Roger Bacon writes of the coincidence of causes and of accents.^[5]
• 1465 – Regiomontanus uses it in a letter of a coincidence of true places or elongations from the Sun.^[7]
• c. 1600 – English coincidence is borrowed from French.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) Coincidence, a falling together or agreement (of causes, lines, sounds); concurrence.^{[6][5][7][2][1]}
2. (Medieval Latin) (of words) Like ending, rhyme.^[8]

Related words

• coincidō
• incidō¹
• English coincidence

Usage notes

The phrase coincidentia oppositōrum “the coincidence of opposites” belongs to Nicholas of Cusa.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
8. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE