Etymologically
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firmitas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɪr.mɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfir.mi.tas][1]

Forms

firmitās f (genitive firmitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin firmus (“firm, strong”) + -tās.[2][1] De Vaan traces firmus to Proto-Italic *fermo- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo- (“holding”), from the root “to hold”; the ⟨i⟩ may come from ⟨e⟩ raised after a labial.[3] Cognate with Lithuanian darýti (“to do”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] who has “look at the door-posts, how strongly and how thickly they are made”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is the strength or stoutness of things, then the robustness of a body, and military or political strength, as in Cicero's letters.[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of stability or resistance to change, and of the mind it is steadfastness or resolution, as Cicero's “such firmness of mind towards the state”.[2] Of troops it is steadiness, as Plancus' army “large in number but slight in reliability”, and in Ulpian it is legal validity.[2] In Medieval Latin it means support or backing, a sworn safeguard against hostile acts, and a pact or peace treaty.[4] Köbler records it in early medieval law codes and charters.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of strongly made door-posts.[2][3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of bodily vigour and of firmness of mind.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the hardiness of vines.[2][5]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian of legal validity.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Strength, stoutness, firmness; bodily vigour; military or political strength.[2][6][1]
  2. Stability, resistance to change.[2][1]
  3. Steadfastness, resolution, constancy.[2][6][7][1]
  4. Of troops, steadiness; of memory, reliability.[2]
  5. (law) Validity.[2]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Support; a sworn safeguard; a pact or peace treaty.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson