idos

Forms

īdos n (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos, “form, shape”),^[2][3][1][4] which Wiktionary and Köbler trace to Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs in Seneca's letters, as the Greek term for the visible form of a thing;^[2][3][4] Lewis and Short give the Latin equivalent as speciēs.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Seneca's text it is sometimes written in Greek letters, and Haase's edition prints it in Greek throughout.^[3][5]

In British Medieval Latin it was a philosophical term for form, idea or archetype: John of Salisbury uses it, Osbern of Gloucester glosses it as forma and calls it a Greek word, and Alexander Neckam calls every creature an ydos, a copy of its exemplar in God.^[6] Roger Bacon reports a derivation of īdūs from it.^[6]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for the visible form of a thing.^[2][3][4]
• Middle Ages – British writers use it for form, idea or archetype.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The visible aspect of a thing, form, shape.^[2][3]
2. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Form, idea, archetype.^[6]

Related words

• idea

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ 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