consideratus

Forms

cōnsīderātus (feminine cōnsīderāta, neuter cōnsīderātum, comparative cōnsīderātior, superlative cōnsīderātissimus, adverb cōnsīderātē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnsīderō (“to examine, consider”), its perfect participle used as an adjective.^[2][3][1] De Vaan connects the verb with sīdus (“star, constellation”): following Rix and Nyman, he takes the noun to have meant first a mark or target, so that the verb meant “to concentrate on a goal”, perhaps from the language of hunters; he reconstructs Proto-Italic *sīþos for the noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in the Rhetorica ad Herennium,^[5] which recommends a slower and more deliberate gesture, tardiōre et cōnsīderātiōre gestū.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is used of actions that are thought out and careful, and of people who are cautious and deliberate.^[2][6] Cicero says of Quinctius that in one matter he was a little less careful than he should have been.^[2][6] The TLL glosses it as circumspect, cautious, provident.^[6] It has a comparative and a superlative, and the adverb cōnsīderātē.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium, of a deliberate gesture.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a careful person.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of actions) Thought out, careful, considered.^[2][1]
2. (of persons) Careful, deliberate, cautious.^[2][6][1]

Related words

• cōnsīderō
• cōnsīderātiō
• sīdus

Usage notes

Medieval British Latin also has a separate fourth-declension noun cōnsīderātus, “consideration, regard”, in Bede.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ 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