Etymologically
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exsistentialis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛks.sɪs.tɛn.tiˈaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eks.sis.ten.t͡siˈaː.lis][1]

Forms

exsistentiālis (neuter exsistentiāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] Also spelled ⟨existentiālis⟩.[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin exsistentia (“existence”) + -ālis.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears first in the 4th century: Marius Victorinus, in his books against Arius, calls the Father actual existence and the Son āctus exsistentiālis, existential act,[4][3][2] and Candidus speaks of a potentia exsistentiālis.[4]

Semantic evolution

It means “relating to existence”.[4][3][5] Victorinus also has the adverb exsistentiāliter, “in the manner of existence”, set against inexsistentiāliter,[4] and the TLL records the noun exsistentiālitās.[4] In the Historia tripartita of Cassiodorus a sect of Arians, the followers of Aetius, who taught that the Son was made from things that do not exist, are called the ex nōn exsistentiālēs.[4] English existential was taken from the Late Latin word in the 1690s, in the sense “pertaining to existence”.[6]

Timeline

  • 1st half of 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus calls the Son an existential act.[4][2]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – The Historia tripartita of Cassiodorus names an Arian sect with it.[4][2]
  • 1690s – English borrows existential.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin) Relating to existence, existential.[4][3][5][1]

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) ex nōn exsistentiālēs (plural): a name given to a sect of Arians, the followers of Aetius.[4]

Word family

  • exsistentiāliter
  • exsistentiālitās
  • English existential

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com