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contrarietas

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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]

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