immortalitas

Forms

immortālitās f (genitive immortālitātis); third declension^[1] Also spelled inmortālitās.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin immortālis (“immortal”) + -tās, from in- (“not”) and mortālis “mortal”.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Plautus, and Lewis & Short quote salvos sum, inmortālitās mihi datur.^[3][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant exemption from death, immortality; of things, indestructibility, permanence, as of fame; and the state of a god, divinity, all in Cicero.^[2][4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means immortality, and British Medieval Latin used it of the state of man before the Fall and of the soul.^[5][6] English immortality (mid-14th century) is from it.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of deathlessness, permanence and divinity.^[2][3]
• mid-14th century – English immortality is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Immortality.^[2][4]
2. Permanence, indestructibility.^[2]
3. Divinity.^[2]

Related words

• immortālis
• mortālis
• mors
• English immortality

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com