fluentia

Forms

fluentia f (genitive fluentiae); first declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin fluēns (“flowing”) + -ia,^[3][4] the present participle of fluō (“to flow”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Late Latin word.^[6] Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 390 AD) uses it figuratively of “an empty flow of talk” (inanis quaedam fluentia loquendi).^[1][5][7]

Semantic evolution

Servius has it for the flowing of waters,^[3][8] and the medical writer Caelius Aurelianus for a flow of saliva.^[5][2] Medieval Latin used it for a flow or discharge,^[9] for running water or a stream in Polish charters,^[10] and figuratively for the abundant flow of divine grace.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of a flow of words.^[1][7]
• c. 400 AD – Servius uses it for the flowing of waters.^[3][7]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of saliva.^[5][7]
• 1251 – A Polish charter uses it for a stream flowing out of a lake.^[10]
• 1292 – An English church council speaks of the abundant flow of divine grace.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flowing, flux (of a liquid).^[3][2][8]
2. (figurative) A flow or abundance of words.^[1][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Running water, a stream.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl