condensatio

Forms

condēnsātiō f (genitive condēnsātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin condēnsō (“to make dense, thicken”) + -tiō.^[1][2][3] The verb belongs with condēnsus (“dense, tightly packed”) and dēnsus (“thick”),^[4] which goes back to Proto-Italic *d(e)nso- (with a query) and Proto-Indo-European *d(ē̆)ns-o- (“thick”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the medical writer Caelius Aurelianus (5th century AD), for the constriction and thickening that poultices produce.^[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin also used it in the Latin version of Eustathius' Hexaemeron, of the close-packed cells of bees,^[3] and a glossary renders it with Greek synapheia, “joining”.^[6] In Medieval Latin it became a term of medicine and natural philosophy for the thickening or solidifying of matter, as when cold condenses phlegm or fine airy parts pass into coarse ones.^[7][8] English condensation (c. 1600) comes from the Late Latin word.^[9]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the constriction caused by poultices.^[3][5]
• c. 1600 – English borrows it as condensation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A condensing, thickening; condensation.^[2][10][11]
2. (Late Latin) Close packing, compression.^[3][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Thickening or solidification of matter.^[7][8]

Related words

• condēnsō
• dēnsus
• English condensation

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.