Etymologically
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ignorantia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋ.noːˈran.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɲ.ɲoˈran.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

ignōrantia f (genitive ignōrantiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from ignōrāns, the participle of ignōrō (“not to know”), with -ia.[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of ignōrō and, with Nussbaum, explains that verb from Proto-Italic *gnōs-, an s-present of Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃-s- (“to recognize, know”) like the one in Hittite kane/išš- (“to recognize, acknowledge”); he rejects the older view that it was made from ignārus (“ignorant”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius.[3] Lewis & Short note that it is mostly post-Augustan, but Caesar has ignōrantia locī, ignorance of the place.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is lack of knowledge or information, with the genitive of what is not known, as in Caesar and Suetonius.[4][2] The TLL notes that it renders Ancient Greek ἄγνοια (ágnoia) in translations from Greek.[5] In scholastic Latin it is the absence of due knowledge, and in Medieval Latin it can also mean an error or a sin.[6][7]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.[3][8]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of ignorance of the ground.[4][8]
  • c. 1200 – English ignorance is borrowed through French.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Ignorance, lack of knowledge or information.[2][4][6][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) An error; a sin.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com