Etymologically
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equitatus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɛ.kʷɪˈtaː.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [e.kʷiˈtaː.tus][1]

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]

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