Etymologically
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disciplina

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 13:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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