generatio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɡɛ.nɛˈraː.ti.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [d͡ʒe.neˈrat.t͡si.o]^[1]

Forms

generātiō f (genitive generātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from generō “to beget” with the suffix -tiō.^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero, whom he dates 81–43 BC.^[5] Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan, and the OLD cites Pliny the Elder.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

It meant begetting, procreation, generation, as Pliny the Elder's breeding of fish, and in plants.^[2][6][7] In Ambrose and the Vulgate it meant a generation of men.^[7] Jerome notes that creation is called generātiō or nātīvitās.^[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant generation, a period of time, birth, pedigree, fruit.^[8] Medieval Latin used it for birth, spiritual rebirth, offspring and descent.^[9] It survives in Italian generazione and French génération, and Old French gave English generation in the early 14th century, “people born about the same time”.^[1][4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of breeding.^[2][6][5]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of a generation of men.^[7][5]
• early 14th century – English generation is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Begetting, procreation.^[2]
2. (Late Latin) A generation of men.^[7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) Offspring; descent.^[9]

Related words

• generātor
• generō
• genus
• English generation

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill