Etymologically
Log in

essentialis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 15:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛs.sɛn.tiˈaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [es.sen.t͡siˈaː.lis][1]

Forms

essentiālis (neuter essentiāle, adverb essentiāliter); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin essentia (“being, essence”), with the adjective suffix -ālis.[2][3][4] The TLL takes it to be a new word, made either by Augustine or in his time, and found only in Christian writers.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Augustine uses it in the City of God (12.9), apologising for it: a cause that is natural or, “if one may say so”, essentiālis.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin theology it means “belonging to the essence, essential”: the Trinity is one God in an essential substance, and Gregory the Great and Isidore of Seville set essential names against merely relative ones.[2] Medieval theologians and philosophers used it constantly, distinguishing the essential from the accidental, and it also appears in medicine (the essential, natural heat), music and astronomy;[5][6] the neuter essentiāle became a noun, “an essential part or property”.[5] The adverb is essentiāliter.[7][1]

Timeline

  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in the City of God.[2][3][4]
  • 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great contrasts essential and relative names in the Trinity.[2][4]
  • second half of the 11th century–1109 – Anselm of Canterbury writes of the essential identity of the Father and the Son.[6][4]
  • 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it in philosophy and natural science.[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin) essential, belonging to the essence of a thing.[2][3][7]
  2. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Essential as opposed to accidental; inherent, natural.[6][5]
  3. (Medieval Latin, neuter as noun) An essential part or property.[5]

Word family

  • essentiāliter
  • esse

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c 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
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson