creativus

Forms

creātīvus (feminine creātīva, neuter creātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin creō + -īvus.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest instance in the MLW is in a theological work of Gottschalk the Saxon (second third of the 9th century): the Holy Spirit gave King Saul his gift of prophecy not as one chosen but as one anointed, “not by the Holy Spirit, but rather by the creating oil”, that is, the oil that made him king.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century it became a term of scholastic philosophy and medicine:^[3][2] Albertus Magnus calls heat creative and formative and speaks of the creative power of the first cause, which presupposes nothing,^[3] and Brunus Longoburgensis (1252) of a medicine that makes flesh grow in a wound.^[3][2] The DMLBS quotes Deus est creativus (“God is creative”) from a work ascribed to Ockham,^[4] and the medieval Latin of Poland and the Czech lands uses it of the power to create and of a cause.^[5][6] Stelten gives it for Ecclesiastical Latin as “creative”.^[7]

Wiktionary lists Italian creativo, French créatif and German kreativ as learned borrowings of it.^[1]

Timeline

• 2nd third of the 9th century – Gottschalk the Saxon calls the anointing oil creativum.^[3][2]
• 1252 – Brunus Longoburgensis speaks of a medicine that makes flesh grow.^[3][2]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it of the creative power of the first cause.^[3][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. creative, having the power to create or produce.^[3][7][6]
2. Bringing about or completing (an appointment).^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
6. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson