equitatus

Forms

equitātus m (genitive equitātūs); fourth declension^[1] The dative singular equitātū is found in Caesar beside equitātuī.^[2][3]

Etymology

The OLD forms it from Latin eques (“horseman”) + -ātus, a collective noun “the horsemen”;^[4] Wiktionary derives it from equitō (“to ride”) with the noun suffix ⟨-tus⟩.^[1] Varro already connected it with the word for horsemen.^[3] eques is from equus (“horse”), perhaps formed like pedes (“foot soldier”);^[5] that noun goes back to Proto-Italic *ekwo- (“horse”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eḱ-u- (“horse”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius.^[6] Cato has partem equitātūs … praedātum mīsit, “he sent part of the cavalry out to plunder”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Equitātus is the cavalry, horse soldiers taken together, and in the plural bodies of cavalry;^[4][2] L&S call it very frequent, and Caesar uses it constantly.^[4][2] Ammianus has ferreus equitātus, armoured cavalry.^[2] It also names the equestrian order at Rome, in Cicero and Livy, and among the Gauls in Caesar.^[4][1]

In Medieval Latin it is also a patrol on horseback.^[7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato: partem equitātūs … praedātum mīsit.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the equestrian order.^[4][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it constantly of cavalry.^[2][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus: ferreus equitātus.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. cavalry;^[4][2][1] (plural) bodies of cavalry.^[4][2][1]
2. The equestrian order.^[4][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A patrol on horseback.^[7]

Related words

• equārius
• equester
• equīnus
• equiō
• equitātiō
• equitium
• equitō
• equus
• eques

Usage notes

The OLD has three words of this form.^[4] Besides the cavalry noun there is equitātus “riding, horsemanship”, from equitō, which Pliny the Elder uses;^[4][2] an adjective equitātus “provided with cavalry”, of a mixed cohort, known from inscriptions;^[4][6] and a noun equitātus “being in heat”, of mares, from equiō, in a line of Lucilius quoted by Varro.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b 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 e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill