Etymologically
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decas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdɛ.kas][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.kas][1]

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

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