conservativus

Forms

cōnservātīvus (feminine cōnservātīva, neuter cōnservātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnservō (“to keep, preserve”) + -īvus, formed on the past participle cōnservātus.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Boethius is its first author: in his translation of Aristotle's Topics he contrasts what produces health with what preserves it, hoc quidem sanitātis effectīvum, illud autem cōnservātīvum.^[2][4] He also uses the adverb cōnservātīvē.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant “preserving, maintaining”,^[5][2] and Medieval Latin used it above all in philosophy and medicine.^[6][7] Medicine that preserves health was set beside medicine that cures it,^[7] and Albertus Magnus uses it in his commentary on Aristotle's Ethics.^[6] It could also mean “making durable, preserving” of things, and “keeping, retaining”; as a neuter noun it was a remedy that keeps health once it has been restored.^[6] Philosophers used it of the will, or the soul, that keeps in being what it produces.^[7]

English conservative, from Old French conservatif, is recorded from the late 14th century in the sense “tending to preserve”; its political use dates from the 1830s.^[3] Wiktionary gives a Latin sense “politically conservative” as well.^[1]

Timeline

• first quarter of the 6th century AD – Boethius contrasts what produces health with what preserves it.^[2][4]
• c. 1239 – Robert Grosseteste writes of medicine that keeps health stable.^[7]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it in his commentary on Aristotle's Ethics.^[6][4]
• late 14th century – English conservative is borrowed through Old French.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Preserving, maintaining; keeping whole.^[2][5][6][4]
2. (Medieval Latin, medicine) Preserving health, preservative.^[7][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Making durable; keeping, retaining.^[6][4]
4. (New Latin) Conservative in politics.^[1]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, neuter) A remedy that preserves restored health.^[6]

Related words

• cōnservātiō
• cōnservātor
• English conservative

Usage notes

The adverb cōnservātīvē is first found in Boethius as well.^[2] It is the counterpart of effectīvus, “producing”, in his translation.^[2]

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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e 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