continuitas

Forms

continuitās f (genitive continuitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin continuus (“uninterrupted”) + -tās.^[2][3][1][4] The adjective is one of the derivatives that de Vaan lists under teneō (“to hold”), beside contineō (“to hold together”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro is the first to use it:^[3][6] he explains that Lampadio used protinam, from protinus, to mean continuity.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It stayed rare in Antiquity.^[7] Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the continuous passages through which heat reaches the membranes of the brain,^[3][8] and Cassiodorus of a seamless joining of small pieces.^[3]

Medieval Latin used it widely, for a connected structure, extension, duration, succession and connection, especially in philosophy.^[9][6] Physicians spoke of solutio continuitatis, a breach of continuity in a wound.^[10] It passed into the Romance languages (French continuité, Italian continuità, Portuguese continuidade),^[1][8] and English took continuity from French in the early 15th century.^[11]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it in explaining an archaic word.^[3][6]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it in medicine.^[3][8][6]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it of a seamless joining.^[3][6]
• 1158–1160 – Rahewin tells of a wall breaking in its continuity.^[9][6]
• 1268 – A Hungarian charter speaks of the continuity of kinship.^[10]
• early 15th century – English borrows continuity through French.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being uninterrupted, continuity, connection.^{[2][12][13][8]}
2. Prolongation, extension.^[2][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A connected structure; extent, course; duration; succession.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin, medicine) solutio continuitatis, a breach of continuity in a wound.^[10]

Related words

• continuus

Usage notes

Lewis and Short cite it from Pliny the Elder (continuitas spinae),^[7] but Georges notes that the best manuscripts there read unitate spinae.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
13. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.