Etymologically
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generatio

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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]

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