Etymologically
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infantia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩːˈfan.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱˈfan.t͡si.a][1]

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]
  • 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