incolumitas

Forms

incolumitās f (genitive incolumitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from incolumis (“unharmed, safe”) with the suffix -tās.^[2][3] De Vaan derives ⟨incolumis⟩ from Proto-Italic *n-kalami- (“safe”), from Proto-Indo-European *n-klh2emi- (“not beaten, undamaged”), the negative of the adjective seen in calamitās (“damage, disaster”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- of -cellō.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is the Rhetorica ad Herennium;^[3] Cicero defines it in his De inventione as the safe and complete preservation of well-being.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means freedom from injury, safety, soundness, of persons and of states and cities, as in Cicero's “by which states keep their safety and freedom” and his concern for the safety of a kingdom.^[2][5] Wiktionary gives also “good condition”.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “safety, good condition, soundness”.^[6]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium.^[3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the safety of states.^[2][5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Safety, freedom from harm; soundness, good condition.^[2][5][1][6]

Related words

• incolumis
• calamitās
• English incolumity

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson