gravitas

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɡra.wɪ.taːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɡraː.vi.tas]^[1]

Forms

gravitās f (genitive gravitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from gravis “heavy” with the suffix -tās.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Lucilius, of heaviness.^[2] Köbler also starts with Lucilius, whom he dates c. 180–102 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant heaviness, weight, as Caesar's armōrum gravitās, and a heavy condition of the body or spirits, as in Lucretius, dullness of the senses, and laboured breathing.^[2][5] It meant oppressiveness of climate, unhealthiness, the heaviness of sleep, and rankness of smell or taste.^[2] From Cicero it meant severity, sternness, strictness of morals, grievousness of punishment, and above all seriousness, dignity, solemnity, earnestness, and the authority or influence of a person or institution.^[2] In an unfavourable sense it meant the gravity of a disease or wound.^[2] Döderlein explains that sevēritās is earnestness in the mind, gravitās earnestness as it impresses others.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant weight.^[7] Medieval Latin used it of injury, oppression.^[8] English gravity came about 1500 through Old French, first “dignity, seriousness”, and English gravitas was taken from Latin in 1924.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of weight.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of bodily heaviness.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of dignity and authority.^[2][4]
• c. 1500 – English gravity is recorded.^[9]
• 1924 – English gravitas is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Heaviness, weight.^[2]
2. Heaviness of body or spirits; dullness.^[2]
3. Oppressiveness; unhealthiness.^[2]
4. Rankness of smell.^[2]
5. Severity; austerity.^[2]
6. Seriousness, dignity, gravity.^[2]
7. Authority, influence.^[2]
8. Seriousness of a disease.^[2]

Related words

• graviter
• gravitō
• gravis
• sevēritās
• English gravity
• English gravitas

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com