Etymologically
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hilaritas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [hɪˈɫa.rɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈlaː.ri.tas][1]

Forms

hilaritās f (genitive hilaritātis); third declension[1] It is also spelled with ⟨il-⟩ and ⟨(h)el-⟩.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin hilarus (“cheerful”) + -tās, from the adjective also found as hilaris.[3][2][1] The adjective is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (hilarós, “cheerful, merry”), from ἵλαος (hílaos, “propitious, gracious”).[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium,[5] which speaks of the cheerfulness or sadness of the face.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means cheerfulness, light-heartedness or gaiety, and also its expression in the face: Cicero says that the eyes show the feelings of the mind by their liveliness, and Quintilian that relaxed eyebrows show cheerfulness.[3][6] In a letter Cicero writes that he has lost for ever the cheerfulness with which he used to season the sadness of the times.[6] Fronto uses it as a term of affection: “farewell, my joy, my security, my cheer, my glory”.[3]

Döderlein notes that gaudēre is joy as an inward state, while laetārī and being hilaris are the outward expression of joy.[7] Church Latin glosses it cheerfulness, hilarity.[8] English borrowed hilarity in the mid-15th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of a cheerful face.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of lost cheerfulness.[6][5]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of cheerful eyebrows.[6][5]
  • 100–170 AD – Fronto as a term of affection.[3][5]
  • mid-15th century – Borrowed into English as hilarity.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Cheerfulness, light-heartedness, gaiety, merriment.[3][6][8][1]
  2. Cheerfulness of expression.[3]
  3. As a term of affection, “my joy”.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson