enormitas

Forms

ēnormitās f (genitive ēnormitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēnormis (“irregular, huge”) + -tās.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Seneca the Younger, who uses it of the enormous size of a man's feet.^[3][4] Köbler dates Seneca 4 BC–65 AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.^[6] It meant irregularity, as Quintilian's comparison of rough stones whose very irregularity finds a place to fit.^[2][7] It also meant hugeness, excessive size, of weights, burdens and a vehicle, in Vegetius, the Historia Augusta and the Theodosian Code.^[4][6]

In Christian Latin it was a departure from the right rule, perversity, as in Tertullian and Novatian.^[3] Medieval Latin used it of excess, moral enormity and mortal sin, the gravity of a crime and an irregularity of procedure.^[8][9][10] English enormity came from Old French in the late 15th century, first of a crime or irregularity.^[11]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of enormous size.^[3][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of irregularity.^[2][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of deviation from the norm.^[3][5]
• late 15th century – English enormity is recorded.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. irregularity of shape.^[2][1]
2. Hugeness, excessive size.^[6][4]
3. (Late Latin) Perversity, wickedness.^[3][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) An enormity, mortal sin; the gravity of a crime.^[8][9]

Related words

• enormis
• English enormity
• English enormous

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com