comitas

Forms

cōmitās f (genitive cōmitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōmis (“courteous, friendly”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it under ⟨cōmis⟩, Old Latin ⟨cosmis⟩ in the Duenos inscription, which has been explained as Proto-Italic *kom-smi- “smiling along with”, from a root Proto-Indo-European *smi- (“smile”) as in Sanskrit स्मयते (smáyate, “smiles”); he calls this uncertain, since no root noun for “smile” is known.^[4] Döderlein's derivation from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos) is older.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4][6] where a slave boasts that something was done by his colleague's courage “and my courtesy”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is friendliness and courtesy, and in giving, generosity: in Plautus a man has lost a well-earned fortune through his generosity.^[2] After Plautus it reappears with Cicero, who uses it often,^[3] for example of Cato's affability and easiness as against his correspondent's gravity and severity.^[7] Curtius and Tacitus use it for refinement, good taste.^[2]

Church Latin has it for kindness and gentleness.^[8] In Medieval Latin it can also mean an association, a society.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of courtesy and generosity.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of affability.^[2][7][6]
• 1st century AD – Curtius of good taste.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Friendliness, courtesy, affability, kindness.^[2][7][1][8]
2. generosity, obligingness.^[2][1]
3. Good taste, elegance.^[2][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) An association, society.^[9]

Related words

• cōmis
• hūmānitās
• facilitās

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from hūmānitās, which ennobles the whole person, facilitās, social complaisance, and cīvīlitās, a ruler's treating subjects as fellow-citizens: cōmitās is the moral virtue of treating everyone as a fellow human without regard to rank, as in Nepos' praise of Miltiades, whom even the humblest could approach.^[5] Lewis and Short give benignitās, facilitās and hūmānitās as near-synonyms and gravitās and sevēritās as opposites.^[7]

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill