Etymologically
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gravitas

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 13:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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]

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