infantia

Forms

īnfantia f (genitive īnfantiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnfāns (“unable to speak; child”) + -ia.^[2][3][1] īnfāns is in- (“not”) and the participle of fārī (“to speak”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *fā- (“to speak”) and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”).^[4][1] Augustine explained that it is so called because a person cannot yet speak.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium.^[5] The OLD's first example is Lucretius' “inability of the tongue”, which drives children to gestures.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is inability to speak, and in Cicero inability to express oneself, the want of eloquence of one who knows a subject but cannot explain it.^[2][6] It then means infancy, strictly the time before one can talk, and childhood in general, as Seneca the Elder's “from infancy”; also childishness, as Seneca reproaches old men with it.^[2] Pliny the Elder uses it collectively of young children.^[2] Church Latin glosses it infancy, childhood.^[7] English infancy (late 14th century) is from Anglo-French and directly from the Latin word.^[8]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it.^[5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the inability to speak.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of want of eloquence.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of young children.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English infancy is formed from it, partly through Anglo-French.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Inability to speak, muteness; inability to express oneself, want of eloquence.^[2][6][1]
2. Infancy, early childhood; childishness.^[2][7][1]
3. Collectively, young children.^[2][1]

Related words

• īnfandus
• īnfāns
• īnfantārius
• īnfanticīda
• īnfanticīdium
• īnfantilis
• īnfantō
• īnfantula
• īnfantulus
• English infancy

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com