dimensio

Forms

dīmēnsiō f (genitive dīmēnsiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dīmētior (“to measure out”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] The verb is a compound of dis- and mētior (“to measure”);^[4] de Vaan lists ⟨dīmētīrī⟩ “to measure out, weigh out” from Plautus on among its derivatives.^[5] He takes that verb as denominal from a noun ⟨*mēti-⟩ “measurement”, which goes back to Proto-Italic *mēti- and Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-ti- (“measurement”), and explains the participle ⟨mēnsus⟩, on which the noun is built, as analogical, after ⟨pēnsus⟩ beside pendō (“to weigh”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cicero on,^[6][7] meaning the act of measuring: in the Tusculan Disputations geometrical questions are asked “de dimensione quadrati”, about the measuring of a square.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The land surveyors used it for the measuring of land,^[2][8] and it came to mean the extent or dimensions of a thing, in Macrobius and Ammianus also in the plural.^[9][8] Hyginus uses it for the axis of the earth.^[9][8] Quintilian applied it to the measuring out of words and lines in metre and prose rhythm,^[2][9] and Vegetius to the allotment of grain rations to soldiers.^[8][10] The TLL notes that it is very often spelled ⟨dem-⟩.^[6]

Medieval Latin kept the senses measure, quantity, size and distance,^[11] and added division, musical and geometrical measure and an interval or distance;^[12] Bede speaks of the first three days of creation as passing without any measuring out of hours.^[12] In Thomas Aquinas the dimensiones of a body are its length, breadth and depth.^[13] English borrowed the word in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of measuring a square in geometry.^[2][6][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for the metrical measuring of words.^[2][7]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses the plural for extent.^[9][8][7]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it for the distribution of grain to soldiers.^[8][7]
• 1st half 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it for dimensions in general.^[9][8][7]
• 1st third 8th century – Bede uses it for the measuring out of hours.^[12][7]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as dimension.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of measuring; a measurement.^[2][9]
2. Extent, size, dimension.^[9][8]
3. The axis of the earth.^[9][8]
4. The measuring out of words or lines into a metrical or rhythmical structure.^[2][9]
5. The allotment of rations of grain to soldiers.^[8][10]
6. (Medieval Latin) Quantity, size, distance.^[11]
7. (Medieval Latin) Division, subdivision.^[12]
8. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Reasoning, judgement.^[14]

Related words

• mētior
• dīmētior
• English dimension

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 d 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 d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
11. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
13. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
14. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson