frugalitas

Forms

frūgālitās f (genitive frūgālitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin frūgālis (“thrifty, worthy”) + -tās, from frūx “fruit, worth”.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives ⟨frūx⟩ from the root of fruor, Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to use”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are Cicero.^[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant steadiness of life, sober habits, temperance, thrift, frugality, and in general worth, virtue, equivalent to Ancient Greek σωφροσύνη (sōphrosúnē); in Apuleius it was a modest fortune, and Gaffiot also gives a good crop.^[2][5][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means simplicity, frugality.^[7] It survives as French frugalité and Italian frugalità.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[2][3]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a modest income.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sober habits, temperance, thrift, frugality.^[2][5]
2. Worth, virtue.^[5]
3. A modest fortune.^[2]

Related words

• frūgālis
• frūgī
• frūx
• English frugality

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson