decas

Forms

decas f (genitive decadis); third declension^[1] A first-declension form decada is also found.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek δεκάς (dekás, “group of ten”),^[1][4][5][6] from δέκα (déka, “ten”),^[4][7] which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dek̑m̥ (“ten”).^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Gaffiot cite it from Tertullian (c. 160–220 AD), in chapter 49 of the treatise on the prescription of heretics, meaning a group of ten; the TLL assigns that passage to the Pseudo-Tertullian work against heresies.^[6][9][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant the number ten, often with a mystical sense: Macrobius calls the decad itself the most perfect number.^[2][10] The Latin translation of Irenaeus uses it for the Gnostic groups of aeons.^[2] Ausonius uses it for a period of ten years,^[10] and Cassiodorus for a group of ten books.^[10] Medieval Latin kept these senses and also used it for a measure of ten in taxes (of skins) and for the tenth order of angels.^[11][3] English decade comes from it through Old French and first meant ten parts of anything, originally the divisions of Livy's history.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – A passage transmitted with Tertullian uses it for a group of ten.^[6][9][2][4]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it for a period of ten years.^[10][4]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius calls it the most perfect number.^[2][10][4]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it for a group of ten books.^[10][4]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as decade.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group of ten; the number ten.^[2][5][10]
2. A decade, a period of ten years.^[10][1][11]
3. A group of ten books of a literary work.^[10][11]
4. (Medieval Latin) A measure of ten in taxation, chiefly of skins.^[3]
5. (Medieval Latin) The tenth order of angels.^[3]

Word family

• duōdecas

Related words

• English decade

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill