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fertilitas

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word fertilitas

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*bʰer-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fertilis
Latin fertilitas

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [fɛrˈtɪ.lɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ferˈtiː.li.tas][1]

Forms

fertilitās f (genitive fertilitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fertilis (“fertile”) + -tās.[2][1][3] fertilis belongs to ferō (“to carry, bear”),[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *fere/o- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-e/o- (“to carry”).[5] Cognate with Umbrian fertu (“to carry, bring”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who in the De divinatione speaks of foretelling whether the fields will be barren or fertile, vel sterilitas agrorum vel fertilitas.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is fruitfulness or fertility, of land,[2] as in Caesar's fertility of a region and Ovid's fertility of the Sicilian earth;[6] of crops and plants, as in Pliny the Elder's great fertility of grain, vines and olives;[2] and of human beings and animals: a tragedy fragment speaks of Spartan girls who care more for the wrestling ground than for barbarian fertility.[2] The TLL notes that apart from that fragment and Ovid it is missing in the poets.[3] Pliny the Elder also uses it of productivity or output, as of Italy's wealth in metals, and of an artist whose great care made his output smaller.[2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of fertile fields.[2][4]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of the fertility of a region.[6][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of crops and of the output of mines and artists.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Fruitfulness, fertility, of land, plants, people or animals.[2][6][1]
  2. Abundance;[6][1] productivity, output.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Fertilitas.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/fertilitas. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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