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competentia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word competentia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 165 Aulus Gellius More words from the 2nd century
Ultimate origin
Latin competō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin competentia
English competency
Spanish competencia

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔm.pɛˈtɛn.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kom.peˈtɛn.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

competentia f (genitive competentiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin competēns + -ia,[1][2] the present participle of competō (“to coincide; to be suitable”) being the base.[2][3] The OLD models it on competenter with the suffix -ia.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aulus Gellius has it of the natural proportion of all the limbs to one another.[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Gellius also uses it of the stars, for the conjunction under which people are born, and Macrobius has both uses.[4][6][2] Georges adds “analogy, proportion” in Chalcidius and “connection” in Fulgentius.[7]

In Medieval Latin it meant what is due to a person, suitability or competence, and an occasion or circumstance;[8] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for official qualification.[9] English competence comes from it through French.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it of the symmetry of the limbs and of the stars.[4][2][5]
  • 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it of the stars.[6][2][5]
  • c. 500 AD – Fulgentius uses it for a connection.[7][5]
  • 1590s – English competence, from French, appears.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Correspondence, proportion, symmetry.[4][6][2]
  2. (astrology) A conjunction of the stars.[4][6]
  3. A connection.[7]
  4. (Medieval Latin) What is due to a person.[8]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Sufficiency, suitability, competence.[8][1]
  6. (Medieval Latin) An occasion, circumstance.[8]
  7. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Official qualification.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Competentia.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/competentia. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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