contemplativus

Forms

contemplātīvus (feminine contemplātīva, neuter contemplātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin contemplor (“to observe, contemplate”), with the suffix -īvus.^[2][3][4] It was formed after Ancient Greek θεωρητικός (theōrētikós),^[5][3] and is the opposite of activus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca the Younger is the first to use it, in his letters: no contemplative art is without its doctrines, and philosophy is both contemplative and active.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Augustine, in the City of God, speaks of the contemplative part of wisdom, beside the active,^[5][4] and Fulgentius says that the life the Greeks call theoretical is called contemplative in Latin.^[4][5] In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant contemplative.^[7]

In medieval Latin it described those devoted to the spiritual contemplation of God, and vita contemplativa was the contemplative life, the life of monks;^[8][6] Niermeyer gives it the sense “monachal” and, as a noun, “monk”.^[9] Scholastic writers also used it for what is theoretical or concerned with knowledge.^[8] In Britain Aldhelm writes of “contemplative fruits”.^[10]

Timeline

• 4 BC–AD 65 – Seneca calls philosophy both contemplative and active.^[4][5][6]
• AD 354–430 – Augustine speaks of the contemplative part of wisdom.^[5][4][6]
• c. 500 AD – Fulgentius uses vita contemplativa for the Greek theoretical life.^[5][4][6]
• 639–709 – Aldhelm uses it in his poem on virginity.^[10][6]
• 716–786 – The letters of Boniface speak of the quiet of the contemplative life.^[8][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Theoretical, speculative, concerned with contemplation rather than action.^[2][5][3]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Contemplative, devoted to spiritual meditation;^[7][8][10] vita contemplativa, the contemplative life.^[7][8][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) Of monks, monastic.^[9][6]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A monk; one devoted to spiritual meditation.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ 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