indifferentia

Forms

indifferentia f (genitive indifferentiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin indifferēns (“not differing”) + -ia.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aulus Gellius (c. 165 AD) uses it of two words that mean the same thing,^[4][3] and of the variable quantity of a syllable.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The declamations ascribed to Quintilian use it of twins that cannot be told apart.^[2] In Christian Latin it named the quality of things that are neither good nor bad, as in Ambrose,^[5] and Augustine uses it of Jovinian's teaching on the equal standing of marriage and virginity.^[5] The Latin Irenaeus speaks of the indifference of the Cynics, the attitude of one who cares little for things.^[5] Metricians such as Marius Victorinus used it for a syllable that may be long or short.^[5]

In medieval philosophy and theology it meant equality or sameness, as of the Father and the Son, and also indeterminacy, ambivalence and indifference.^[6] English indifference (mid-15th century) comes from it.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it of synonyms and of syllable quantity.^[2][4][3]
• 1st half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus uses it of an ambivalent syllable.^[5][3]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of things between good and bad.^[5][3]
• c. 1010–c. 1070 – Otloh of St Emmeram uses it for sameness.^[6][3]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as indifference.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of difference, similarity; of words, synonymy.^[2][4][1]
2. Variableness of the quantity of a syllable.^[2][5]
3. (Late Latin, philosophy) The state of being neither good nor bad.^[5]
4. (Late Latin) Indifference, unconcern.^[5][6]

Related words

• English indifference

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c 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