contrarietas

Forms

contrārietās f (genitive contrārietātis); third declension^[1] Medieval spellings include ⟨contraarietas⟩ and ⟨contrariaetas⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin contrārius (“opposite, contrary”) + -tās.^[1][4][5][6] Köbler traces the adjective to contrā (“against”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's earliest Christian author is Tertullian, who in his work on the soul sets the opposition of “born” and “unborn” against his opponents,^[5][3] and speaks elsewhere of the contrariety of teachings and of the opposed precepts that Marcion collected in his Antitheses.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a learned word of the grammarians, philosophers and Christian writers.^[5][4] Sacerdos says that an asynartete verse arises through antipathy, that is, through contrariety,^[5] and Pompeius uses it for an exception to a rule.^[5] Macrobius writes that contrariety never arises from doubled likes,^[5][7] the Latin Irenaeus renders Greek Ancient Greek ἐναντιότης (enantiótēs) with it,^[5] and Boethius says that affirmation and negation are distinguished by contrariety.^[5] It could also mean an adversity or vexation: Firmicus Maternus speaks of people hindered by various misfortunes, and Sidonius of the anger that the vexing news stirred in him.^[5][8]

In Medieval Latin it kept the sense of contrast and opposition,^[9][2] and became a term of logic and natural philosophy, for the contrariety of qualities such as heat and cold;^[2][10] Thomas Aquinas defines it as the greatest distance between two things within one genus.^[11] In charters and legal texts it meant resistance, a challenge or an injury:^[9][2][12] papal and monastic documents forbid anyone to bring harm or molestation on a monastery,^[7] and Hungarian charters use it for legal opposition.^[12] The Romance languages continue it, as in French contrariété and Italian contrarietà,^[1] and English contrariety came from it through Old French about 1400.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of the opposition of born and unborn.^[5][3]
• 3rd century AD – The grammarian Sacerdos explains an asynartete verse by contrariety.^[5][3]
• 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it for misfortunes.^[5][3]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius writes that contrariety never arises from doubled likes.^[5][3]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it of vexing news.^[5][3]
• 800 – A letter of Alcuin speaks of the hostility of the enemies of Christ.^[10]
• 840 – A capitulary uses it.^[3]
• 1193 – A Hungarian charter uses it of a legal objection.^[12]
• c. 1400 – English contrariety is recorded, from Old French.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) opposition, contrariety, contrast; contradiction.^{[4][6][5][8][14]}
2. (Late Latin) Misfortune, adversity, vexation.^[5][8][9]
3. (logic) Contrary opposition; an opposite.^{[10][11][2][15]}
4. (Medieval Latin) Resistance, hostility; a legal challenge or objection.^{[9][2][12][15]}
5. (Medieval Latin) Injury, molestation; a hindrance, obstacle.^[9][7][2]

Related words

• contrārius
• English contrariety

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
12. ^ a b c d Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
15. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl