geometria

Forms

geōmetria f (genitive geōmetriae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek γεωμετρία (geōmetría, “geometry, land survey”),^[2][1][3] from γῆ (gê, “earth, land”) and μετρέω (metréō, “to measure”).^[1] Köbler takes the second part back to Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”).^[3] Cicero names it among the Greek words that Latin had taken over and made its own,^[4] and Cassiodorus renders it in Latin as “measuring of the earth”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cicero on,^[4][3] who in De oratore says that geometry deals with lines, figures, intervals and magnitudes.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Vitruvius says that geometry teaches the use of the compasses and the rule.^[4] Boethius and Cassiodorus define it as the study of immobile magnitude and of forms.^[4] In British medieval Latin it is geometry as one of the liberal arts, as in Alcuin, the title of Euclid's book, and Geometry personified.^[6] English geometry came from it through Old French in the early 14th century.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the subject of lines and figures.^[5][4][3]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of the compasses and the rule.^[4][3]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus, defining it.^[4][3]
• c. 803 – Alcuin, of Pythagoras teaching geometry.^[6]
• early 14th century – English geometry, through Old French.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Geometry.^[2][5][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Euclid's book on geometry;^[6] Geometry personified.^[6]

Related words

• geōmetrēs
• geōmetricus
• English geometry

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d 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
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com