Etymologically
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habitatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ha.bɪˈtaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [a.biˈtat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

habitātiō f (genitive habitātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin habitō (“to dwell, inhabit”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] De Vaan explains habitō as a frequentative of habeō (“to have, hold”),[4] which he traces to Proto-Italic *χab/f-ē- (“to have, hold”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁b(ʰ)-(e)i- (“to take”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[4][5] meaning a place to live: in the Mostellaria a character says that this dwelling was given to him.[2]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin it is a dwelling or residence, from Plautus and Cato to Vitruvius and Columella,[2][6] and also the fact of living somewhere, lodging: Cicero writes that only one kind of extravagance was charged, the cost of lodging.[2][6] In law it is the right of living in a house.[2] The cost of lodging gave the sense house-rent, as when Suetonius says that Caesar remitted a year's rent at Rome up to two thousand sesterces.[2][6]

Medieval writers used it for a dwelling-place, a rural house or cottage, and the inhabitants of a place;[7] in Britain also for a monastic cell, the earth as man's dwelling and heaven as the dwelling of the blessed.[8] English took habitation from it, partly through French, in the late 14th century.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a dwelling.[2][6][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for lodging and its cost.[2][6][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it for house-rent.[2][6][5]
  • late 14th century – English borrows it as habitation.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A dwelling, residence, place to live in.[2][6]
  2. The act of dwelling, lodging;[2][6] (law) the right of living in a house.[2][6]
  3. The cost of lodging, house-rent.[2][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A rural dwelling, cottage.[7]
  5. (Medieval Latin) The inhabitants of a place.[7]

Word family

  • habitātiuncula

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 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com