Etymologically
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hereditas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [heːˈreː.dɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈrɛː.di.tas][1]

Forms

hērēditās f (genitive hērēditātis); third declension[1] The ablative hērēditātī is found in an inscription and in Varro.[2] The genitive plural is usually hērēditātum (Cicero), also hērēditātium (Cicero, Suetonius, Gaius).[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin hērēs (“heir”) + -tās.[2][1][4][5] De Vaan finds most likely Nussbaum's explanation of hērēs as a noun built on an adjective ⟨*ǵʰeh₁ro-⟩ “left behind, bereft”, the same as Ancient Greek χῆρος (khêros, “bereaved”).[6] Cassiodorus derived it from erus (“master”), because the heir rules freely over what he inherits.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[6][7] Varro uses it for inheriting an estate: sī istīus modī mī fundus hērēditātī obvēnerit, “if a farm of that kind should come to me by inheritance”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Hērēditās is the act of inheriting, hereditary succession, and the position of heir, heirship (Cicero: so that he would not be shut out of his brother's inheritance).[2][3] It is also what is inherited, an inheritance or estate.[2][3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “heredity, inheritance, heirship”.[8] In medieval Latin it was also landed property held in full ownership, whether inherited or not, the allod, and allodial right.[9] English heredity (1530s) comes from it through French.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[6][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro: fundus hērēditātī obvēnerit.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a brother's inheritance.[2][7]
  • 1530s – English heredity.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Inheriting, hereditary succession.[2][3][1]
  2. Heirship.[2][3][8]
  3. An inheritance, an estate inherited.[2][3][1][8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Land held in full ownership, an allod; allodial right.[9]

Word family

  • hērēditārius
  • hērēditō
  • hērēs
  • hērēdium
  • exhērēs
  • English heredity

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill