divinitas

Forms

dīvīnitās f (genitive dīvīnitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dīvīnus (“divine”) + -tās.^[2][1] dīvīnus comes from dīvus (“divine”), which de Vaan explains as a form of the same stem as deus (“god”), from Proto-Italic *deiwo- and Proto-Indo-European *dei-u-o- (“god”); the stem split by regular sound changes, and the two forms were then given different meanings.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it first,^[4] in De natura deorum of someone who gave divinity to the sun and the moon.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the quality or nature of a god: Livy uses it of the deified Romulus and Suetonius of Augustus.^[2][5] Cicero also uses it of a godlike excellence, an orator's extraordinary skill in lawsuits,^[2] and of the divine power itself, from which the soul receives impressions.^[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of the power of foretelling, as the foreknowledge credited to Anaxagoras.^[2][5] In Christian Latin it is the Godhead,^[6] and in Medieval Latin it is theology,^[7] the sense with which the English divinity first appears.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the divine nature and of the divine power.^[2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the deified Romulus.^[5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the power of divination.^[2][5]
• c. 1300 – divinity appears in English, as “theology”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or nature of a god, divinity, godhead; godlike excellence.^[2][5][1]
2. The divine being or power.^[2][6]
3. The faculty of divining.^[2][5][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) Theology.^[7]

Related words

• deus
• dīvīnātiō
• dīvīnātor
• dīvīnātrīx
• dīvīnē
• dīvīnitus
• dīvīnō
• dīvīnus
• dīvus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com