duritia

Forms

dūritia f (genitive dūritiae); first declension^[1] A fifth-declension dūritiēs is also used, as in Celsus and Ovid.^[2][3] Cato preferred dūritūdō.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin dūrus (“hard”) + -itia.^[2][4][1] De Vaan traces dūrus to Proto-Italic *dūro- and Proto-Indo-European *du(e)h₂-ro- (“far, long”), comparing Ancient Greek δηρός (dērós, “long”);^[5][1][6] Etymonline instead derives it from a root *deru- (“to be firm”).^[5][1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[5] who in the Mostellaria speaks of the austerity of discipline and in the Asinaria of a toughness that wears out the lictors' rods.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is physical hardness or firmness, as Varro's hard iron collar; in medicine it is a hardening or callus, and dūritiēs alvī constipation.^[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of a harsh flavour in wine.^[2] Of conditions it means hardness or rigour, as Tacitus' soldiers complaining of hard labour, and of people endurance or toughness.^[2] Morally it is austerity or severity, harshness towards others, as in Propertius, and insensibility of mind;^[2][1] Cicero says that brutal insensibility imitates patience.^[2][1] Church Latin glosses it hardness.^[7] English duress comes from it through Old French, first in the early 14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of austere discipline and of toughness.^[2][5][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of the hardness of iron.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of insensibility.^[2][8]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of hard labour.^[2][8]
• early 14th century – English duress comes from it through Old French.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Physical hardness, firmness;^[2][3][7][1] (medicine) a callus, hardening.^[2][3][7][1]
2. Harshness of flavour.^[2][1]
3. Hardness, rigour of conditions.^[2][1]
4. Endurance, toughness.^[2]
5. Austerity, severity; harshness towards others.^[2][1]
6. Insensibility of mind or feeling.^[2][1]

Related words

• dūrus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de