Etymologically
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identitas

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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