geographia

Forms

geōgraphia f (genitive geōgraphiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek γεωγραφία (geōgraphía, “description of the earth”),^[2][3][1][4] from γῆ (gê, “earth”) and γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero (81–43 BC)^[5] uses it in a letter to Atticus, promising to do his best with the geographia, the geographical work he had in hand.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The TLL explains it as a description of the lands of the earth.^[6] In the 12th century Osbern of Gloucester glossed it in the same way, together with geographus, a describer of the earth.^[7] English geography (1540s) comes through French géographie.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of his geographia to Atticus.^[2][5]
• 1540s – English borrows it as geography.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A geographical work.^[2]
2. Geography, the description of the earth.^[3][6][7]

Word family

• geōgraphicus

Related words

• geōmetria
• English geography

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press