geographicus

Forms

geōgraphicus (feminine geōgraphica, neuter geōgraphicum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek γεωγραφικός (geōgraphikós, “geographical”),^[2][3][4] the adjective of γεωγραφία (geōgraphía);^[1] Wiktionary analyses it within Latin as geōgraphia with -icus.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero wrote it in Greek letters in a letter to Atticus;^[2] as a Latin word it appears in Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 390),^[4] who speaks of the writings of the geographers.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Martianus Capella refers to the opinion of Ptolemy in his geographical work.^[3] Medieval Latin kept it in the same sense,^[5] as did Ecclesiastical Latin.^[6] English geographic (1620s) is mostly a shortening of geographical, but in some uses is probably from French géographique or Late Latin geographicus.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it.^[2][3][4]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella refers to Ptolemy's geographical work.^[3][4]
• 1620s – English has geographic.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Geographical, of geography.^[2][3][6][5]

Related words

• English geographic

References

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