Etymologically
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immortalitas

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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]

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