Etymologically
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genitalis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɡɛ.nɪˈtaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [d͡ʒe.niˈtaː.lis][1]

Forms

genitālis (neuter genitāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from gignō (“to beget”) with the suffix -ālis.[2][1] The TLL derives it from the same noun that appears in the name of the goddess Genita Mana, in Oscan genetaí and in Ancient Greek γενετή (geneté, “birth”).[3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of gignō, which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *ǵi-ǵnh₁-e/o- (“to engender”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius has it first, in the Annals: Romulus spends eternity in heaven with the gods of creation.[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is first concerned with creation, as Ennius' generative gods.[2][6] More often it is concerned with procreation and reproduction: Lucretius uses it of the generative principles of matter and of the genital parts, and Virgil has the earth swelling in spring and asking for fertile seeds.[2][6] It is also connected with one's birth: Velleius calls Miletus a man's native soil, and Tacitus has the birthday.[6][2] In Horace's Carmen Saeculare Genitālis is a name of the goddess of childbirth.[2] Later it means hereditary or native, as of a tree bearing fruit not its own in Calpurnius.[2] Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.[6] In Medieval Latin it is native, innate, ancestral or parental.[7]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of the gods of creation.[2][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the generative elements and the genital parts.[6][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of the goddess of childbirth.[2][5]
  • late 14th century – English genital is borrowed from it.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Concerned with creation; generative, fruitful.[2][6][1]
  2. Concerned with procreation, reproductive; genital.[2][6][1]
  3. Of one's birth or birthday; native.[2][6][9]
  4. Hereditary, inborn;[2][7] (Medieval Latin) ancestral, parental.[2][7]

Noun

  1. A name of Lucina, the goddess of childbirth.[2]

Word family

  • genitāle

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson