Etymologically
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densitas

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Forms

dēnsitās f (genitive dēnsitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from dēnsus “thick, dense” with the suffix -tās.[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Livy, of thickness and of crowding.[2] Köbler dates Livy 59 BC–17 AD.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant thickness, density, as Pliny the Elder's mud that thickens into density, and of paper, and in Livy a multitude, crowding together.[2][6][7] Lewis and Short think it perhaps not ante-Augustan.[2][6][7] In Quintilian it meant density of style, frequency.[2][7]

Medieval Latin used it for darkness.[8] British Medieval Latin used it for thick growth, of woods.[9] It survives in Italian densità and French densité, and French gave English density about 1600.[1][4]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of thickness and crowding.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of mud and paper.[6][5]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of style.[2][5]
  • c. 1600 – English density is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Thickness, density.[2]
  2. Multitude, crowding; of style, density.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Darkness.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ 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