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identitas

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word identitas

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation, Calque
First attested
first half of the 4th century AD, Marius Victorinus
Ultimate origin
Latin īdem
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin idem
Latin identitas
Italian identità
From the same root
Latin identifico ← idem

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪˈdɛn.tɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈdɛn.ti.tas][1]

Forms

identitās f (genitive identitātis); third declension[1] Medieval spellings include idemptitās and ydemptitās.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin īdem (“the same”) + -tās, a calque of Ancient Greek ταὐτότης (tautótēs, “sameness”).[1][4] It is built like essentitās and essentiālitās.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in 4th-century theology: a letter of Candidus speaks of having from him an “identity of nature”, and Marius Victorinus, writing against Arius, sets identity against otherness.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Latin versions of the acts of the Church councils it renders Greek ταὐτότης, the identity of substance of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.[4] Medieval philosophers used it for sameness of quality or attributes, distinguishing formal and real identity, numerical identity and the identity of the persons of the Trinity.[3] Köbler also records the medieval senses “equal treatment” and “requital”.[2]

French took identité from it in the 14th century, and English took identity from French around 1600, after an earlier idemptitie from Medieval Latin idemptitās.[5]

Timeline

  • first half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus uses it in his books against Arius.[4][2]
  • 1246 – It appears in Frederick II's De arte.[2]
  • 1560s – English borrows the medieval spelling as idemptitie.[5]
  • c. 1600 – English identity, through French.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin, theology) Oneness of nature or substance, as of the persons of the Trinity.[4][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Sameness, identity.[3][6][7]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Equal treatment; requital.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Identitas.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/identitas. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·