descriptivus

Forms

dēscrīptīvus (feminine dēscrīptīva, neuter dēscrīptīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēscrībō (“to mark out, describe”), formed with the suffix -īvus on its past participle ⟨dēscrīptus⟩.^[3][4] The verb is in turn formed from dē- and scrībō (“to write”),^[5] which goes back to Proto-Italic *skreif-e/o- (“to carve”) and Proto-Indo-European *skreibʰ-e/o- (“to carve”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a late and rare word.^[3][1] It appears in the 4th century AD in the rhetorician Fortunatianus, of commonplaces (loci communes) that serve to describe,^[1][2][4] and in Marius Victorinus' work on definitions, of a kind of definition called descriptive.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

L&S also quote Boethius' treatise on definition for a definitio descriptiva.^[1] In medieval Latin it was used in rhetoric of a descriptive or explanatory way of setting out a subject, as in the prologue of Emperor Frederick II's treatise on the art of hunting, and, in a passive sense, of what can be bounded or measured, as in Albertus Magnus.^[6] Polish logic textbooks use it of the definition that explains a thing through its accidents, as against the definition through its essence.^[7]

Italian descrittivo continues the Late Latin word.^[8]

Timeline

• first half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus speaks of a definition said to be descriptive.^[3][4]
• 4th century AD – Fortunatianus uses it of commonplaces that describe.^[1][2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing an exact description, serving to describe.^[1][9]
2. (Medieval Latin, rhetoric) descriptive, explanatory.^[6]
3. (Medieval Latin) That can be bounded or measured.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin, logic) Of a definition: explaining a thing by its accidents rather than its essence.^[7]

Related words

• dēscrīptiō
• English descriptive

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.