gesta

Forms

gesta n pl (genitive gestōrum); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin gerō (“to carry on, do”): the neuter plural of its past participle, used as a noun, “things done”.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is the opening of Cato's Origins: sī quēs hominēs sunt, quōs dēlectat populī Rōmānī gesta discrībere, “if there are any people whom it pleases to write down the deeds of the Roman people”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is the less common word for what was usually called rēs gestae, the deeds or exploits of a person or a people.^[2] Sisenna, Cicero, Nepos and Livy use it of deeds in war and peace, and Ovid speaks of fortia gesta, brave deeds.^[3] Ancient glossaries explain it by Greek words for “things done” and “records” and by Latin ācta.^[3] The Vulgate uses it for the deeds of King David.^[2]

In Late Latin it came to mean public records, and especially the gesta mūnicipālia, the registers of town magistrates in which private deeds were entered;^[5][6] Augustine already mentions them, and the phrase gestīs mūnicipālibus allēgāre “to enter in the town registers” lived on in charters long after the registers themselves had gone.^[5][6] In Medieval Latin it was also an extract from such a register, a charter, the proceedings of a synod, and a story or a piece of news.^[5][6] It was then often treated as a feminine singular, as in verses on Einhard's life of Charlemagne which call the book a gesta.^[6] Italian gesta “deeds” continues it.^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of writing down the gesta of the Roman people.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of acts done by arms.^[3][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine mentions the gesta mūnicipālia.^[6][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate speaks of the gesta of King David.^[2][4]
• 552 – Köbler's first charter evidence for the sense “public records”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Deeds, acts, exploits.^[2][3][1]
2. (Late Latin, law) Public records;^[5][6] gesta mūnicipālia, the registers of town magistrates in which private deeds were entered.^[5][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A charter; the proceedings of a synod.^[5][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A story, history; a piece of news.^[5][6]

Usage notes

Medieval Latin had an unrelated gesta or gestum “yeast”, from Old English giest (“yeast, froth”),^[4][6] and used gesta as a spelling of gistum, a due of lodging.^[6][5]

References

1. ^ a b 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 g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier