Etymologically
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idealis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.deˈaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.deˈaː.lis][1]

Forms

ideālis (neuter ideāle, adverb ideāliter); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin idea (“idea, form”) + -ālis.[2][1][3] The noun goes back to Ancient Greek ἰδέα (idéā, “form, idea”),[1] and Etymonline takes the adjective from it in the Platonic sense.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Martianus Capella is its first author: he speaks of the ideal and intellectual form of the monad and its causative power, and fits the triad to ideal forms.[2][5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Martianus it means both having the nature of an idea and relating to an idea.[2][7] Medieval philosophy and theology used it in the same senses, of what has the nature of an idea or form or conforms to it:[8][9] Albertus Magnus speaks of an ideal number produced by the intelligence before nature, and says that Plato held the universal to be the first ideal cause.[8] For Thomas Aquinas it is a synonym of exemplāris, “serving as a pattern”.[10] In British sources Duns Scotus has the ideal reason of a thing and Wyclif the many ideal reasons in the divine mind.[9] It could also mean perfect, ideal, as in a letter praising a master,[8] and in a register of 1488, existing as an idea in the mind, of a plan carried into act.[9] Polish philosophical texts of the 15th and 16th centuries use it of Plato's ideal forms.[11]

English ideal is recorded from the early 15th century, first “of an archetype”; the senses “perfect” and “existing only in idea” are from the 1610s.[4]

Timeline

  • 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it of the ideal form of the monad.[2][6]
  • 13th century – Albertus Magnus speaks of an ideal number.[8][6]
  • third quarter of the 13th century – Thomas Aquinas uses it in the sense “exemplary”.[10][6]
  • early 15th century – English ideal is recorded.[4]
  • 1488 – A register uses it of a plan existing in the mind.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin) Having the nature of an idea or form; relating to an idea.[2][5][7]
  2. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Conforming to an idea or form; exemplary.[8][9][10]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Perfect, ideal.[8][11]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Existing as an idea in the mind.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b c d e f 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
  10. ^ a b c Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
  11. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl