immaterialis

Forms

immāteriālis (neuter immāteriāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- + māteriālis.^[3][1] The DMLBS labels it a Late Latin word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ambrose (c. 340–397 AD)^[1] has it in his commentary on Psalm 118: ibi non materia est, sed immateriale (“there is no matter there, but what is immaterial”).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Jerome's Latin version of Origen on Ezekiel speaks of things “incorporeal and, so to speak, immaterial” (incorporeas et, ut ita dicam, immateriales).^[3] Gaffiot marks it as a word of Church writers,^[2] and Stelten lists it in Ecclesiastical Latin.^[5]

It became common in scholastic philosophy and theology: Albertus Magnus uses it of the first mover and of the intellect,^[6] and British writers such as Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus and Sutton of what exists outside material reality.^[4] It also had an adverbial phrase modo immateriali, in an immaterial way.^[6] English took it over from Medieval Latin about 1400.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose contrasts matter with the immaterial.^[3][1]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome's version of Origen speaks of immaterial things.^[3][1]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it as a term of philosophy.^[6][1]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as immaterial.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not consisting of matter, incorporeal, immaterial.^[3][6][5]
2. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Existing outside material reality or referring to what is not material.^[4][6]

Related words

• māteria

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com