Etymologically
Log in

commoditas

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word commoditas

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*med-o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin commodus
Latin incommodus
Latin commoditas

Forms

commoditās f (genitive commoditātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin commodus (“suitable, convenient”) + -tās.[2][1][3] commodus is made from com- and modus (“measure”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *medo- (“measure, judgement”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o- (“measure”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Plautus;[4][2] in the Menaechmi a character claims to know every moment of opportunity.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is timeliness, the right moment, as in Plautus.[2][1] It then means fitness and due proportion: the Rhetorica ad Herennium praises a writer's aptness and brevity, Cicero uses it of fitting expression in a speech, and Suetonius of the symmetry of Augustus' limbs.[2][5] From there it is advantage and convenience: Terence's character thanks Fortune for the advantages heaped on one day.[2] Caecilius uses it of a father's obligingness, which blunted all the speaker's tricks and deceits.[2] Stelten gives "fitness, convenience, ease" for Church Latin;[6] in Medieval Latin it also means goods, provisions,[7] and it is the source of the English commodity.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the right moment.[2][9]
  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius of obligingness.[2]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of advantages.[2]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of the proportion of the limbs.[5]
  • early 15th century – commodity appears in English, from Old French and Latin.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Timeliness, opportuneness.[2][1]
  2. Fitness, aptness, due proportion.[2][5][1]
  3. Advantage, convenience, usefulness; an advantage.[2][5][1]
  4. Obligingness, complaisance.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Goods, provisions.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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 c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Commoditas.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/commoditas. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·