disciplina

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [dɪs.kɪˈpliː.na]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [diʃ.ʃiˈpliː.na]^[1]

Forms

disciplīna f (genitive disciplīnae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is contracted from ⟨discipulīna⟩, from discipulus “pupil” with the suffix -īna.^[2][1][3] The full form is in Plautus, Gellius and inscriptions.^[2][4] Varro derived it from ⟨discere⟩ “to learn”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of teaching and of method.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant teaching, instruction, training, as Caesar's young men flocking to the Druids disciplīnae causā “for instruction”.^[2][6] From Cicero it meant a branch of study, and in Terence a philosophical school.^[2] In Plautus it meant a system, practice, method, and in Terence orderly conduct based on training, discipline, and in Cato the order kept among people under command, military discipline.^[2] Döderlein explains that litterae and artēs are the sciences as objects of education.^[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant discipline, study, instruction, and chastisement for correction.^[8] Medieval Latin used it of knowledge, learning, a science and religious doctrine.^[9] English discipline came about 1200 through Old French, first “penitential chastisement”.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of teaching and of method.^[2][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of order under command.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a philosophical school.^[2][5]
• c. 1200 – English discipline is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Teaching, instruction, training.^[2]
2. A branch of study; a school of philosophy.^[2]
3. A system, method.^[2]
4. Orderly conduct; military discipline.^[2]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Chastisement, correction.^[8]

Word family

• disciplinabilis
• disciplīnātus
• disciplīnōsus

Related words

• discipulus
• discō
• doctrīna
• English discipline
• English disciple

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com