Etymologically
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divinitas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [diːˈwiː.nɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diˈviː.ni.tas][1]

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]

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