Etymologically
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duritia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [duːˈrɪ.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [duˈrit.t͡si.a][1]

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]

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