genialis

Forms

geniālis (neuter geniāle, adverb geniāliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin genius (“guardian spirit”) + -ālis.^[2][1][3] Etymonline connects genius with the root Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).^[4] Festus says the genial gods were named from gerō, and lists them as water, earth, fire and air, the seeds of things, with the twelve signs, the moon and the sun.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who speaks of the marriage bed a woman had spread for her daughter's wedding two years before.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is first of or belonging to a person's genius, as of a guild named in an inscription.^[2] It is used of marriage, and ⟨lectus geniālis⟩ is the marriage bed, which Lewis & Short describe as placed in the atrium and dedicated to the genii of the couple;^[2][6] Catullus has the couch of the goddess set in the middle of the house.^[2][6] It also means festive, of good cheer: Virgil has golden bed-frames gleaming on high festive couches.^[2] Of people it is jovial: Ovid bids farewell to the genial Muse of his elegies.^[2] Wiktionary adds the sense of birth or generation.^[1][7] English genial dates from the 1560s, first meaning “of marriage”.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the marriage bed.^[6][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a marriage couch.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of festive couches.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a jovial Muse.^[2][5]
• 1560s – English genial.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person's genius or guardian spirit.^[2]
2. Of marriage, nuptial;^[2][6][1] lectus geniālis, the marriage bed.^[2][6]
3. Of birth or generation.^[1][7]
4. Festive, of good cheer; of people, jovial.^[2][1][7]

Word family

• genialitas
• geniāliter

Related words

• geniātus
• genius
• English genial

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson