deitas

Forms

deitās f (genitive deitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin deus + -tās, modelled on dīvīnitās, to render Ancient Greek θεότης (theótēs, “divinity”).^[1][2][3] Wiktionary and Etymonline call it a coinage of Augustine,^[1][4] and Augustine himself remarks that Christians had begun to use deitas to translate the Greek word more exactly.^[5] The TLL, however, records it earlier, in Hilary of Poitiers, who says that the Latins call the Greek term deitas, and in Arnobius.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Arnobius has it in his work against the pagans,^[6][7] and Hilary of Poitiers glosses the Greek term for the divine nature with it in his commentary on Matthew,^[6][7] both in the sense “divine nature, divinity”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word was a learned term of Christian writers, a closer equivalent of the Greek than the older divinitas,^[2][6] and often stood by metonymy for God or a god.^[6] Prudentius used it often in his poems.^[6]

Medieval authors used it of the godhead of the Trinity and of its persons, of the divine nature of Christ beside his human nature, and of the pagan gods,^[8][9] and again for a deity itself.^[8] English took it over through Old French as deity, first in the sense “divine nature”.^[4]

Timeline

• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it.^[6][7]
• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers says that the Latins render the Greek word for divinity as deitas.^[6][7]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it repeatedly in his poems.^[6][7]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine comments on the word in the City of God.^[3][5][7]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of the Trinity.^[9][7]
• c. 1300 – English borrows it, through Old French, as deite.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Divinity, the divine nature, godhead.^[2][10][11]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A deity, God or a god.^[6][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill