conformitas

Forms

cōnfōrmitās f (genitive cōnfōrmitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cōnfōrmis (“similar in form”) + -tās in Late Latin.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the commentary on the Psalms ascribed to Rufinus, where the wicked are punished to deter people from conformity with them and to lead them to conformity with Christ.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Rare in Late Latin,^[4] it became common in scholastic writing for likeness, similarity of form and agreement:^[5][6][7] Thomas Aquinas defines conformity as the agreement of two things in one form and opposes it to difformitas.^[8] Medieval writers also used it for concord, for adaptation or correspondence to something, and in law for conformity with the law;^[6][7][9] in Ecclesiastical Latin it is conformity or agreement.^[10]

Timeline

• 4th–5th century AD – The commentary on the Psalms ascribed to Rufinus uses it.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Likeness, similarity, conformity.^[2][5][10]
2. (Medieval Latin) Agreement, concord.^[6][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) Adaptation, correspondence (to something).^[6][7]

Related words

• cōnfōrmis
• English conformity

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
9. ^ Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson