curiositas

Forms

cūriōsitās f (genitive cūriōsitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cūriōsus + -tās, the abstract noun of the adjective meaning “careful, inquisitive”.^[2][1][3] The adjective belongs with cūra (“care, anxiety”); de Vaan reports Leumann's view that cūriōsus is a back-formation from incūriōsus.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it once, in a letter to Atticus, where he says sum in curiositate (“I am all curiosity”) and adds a Greek adjective.^[6][7] The sense there is eagerness to know or find out.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

After Cicero the word is rare until Apuleius and Tertullian, from whom it becomes more frequent; the plural appears from Tertullian on.^[6] The OLD defines it as an excessive eagerness for knowledge,^[2] and the TLL notes that a sense of talkativeness sometimes goes with it.^[6] Tertullian also uses it for a thing that excites curiosity,^[9] and Augustine speaks of curiositates sacrilegas atque inlicitas, “sacrilegious and forbidden curiosities”.^[3]

Medieval Latin added the older sense of its base, care and diligence: Alcuin's letters use the plural for concerns about the Catholic faith, and the DMLBS and Niermeyer give “care, anxiety”.^[10][11] The MLW lists both a good or neutral and a bad sense of curiosity, levity, and in a passive sense trouble, extravagant elegance and superfluity,^[12] and British sources use it for an oddity or an elaborate refinement.^[10] The word passed into the Romance languages, as Italian curiosità,^[9][1] and through French into English as curiosity.^[13]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it once, in a letter to Atticus.^[6][5]
• c. 125–175 – Apuleius uses it, and it becomes more frequent from him and Tertullian on.^[6][5]
• c. 160–220 – Tertullian has the first plurals and uses it of a curious thing.^[6][9][5]
• 354–430 – Augustine writes of “sacrilegious and forbidden curiosities”.^[3][5]
• 800 – Alcuin uses the plural for anxieties or concerns about the faith.^[10]
• late 14th century – English borrows it, through French, as curiosity.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. Curiosity, inquisitiveness, an excessive eagerness for knowledge.^[2][7][3]
2. (plural) Curious inquiries or interests.^[3][8]
3. Something that arouses curiosity.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) Care, anxiety.^[11][10]
5. (Medieval Latin) Carefulness, diligence.^[10][12]
6. (Medieval Latin) Levity; extravagant elegance; superfluity.^[12]
7. (Medieval Latin) An oddity, an elaborate refinement.^[10]

Related words

• English curiosity

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e f 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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com