infertilitas

Forms

īnfertilitās f (genitive īnfertilitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin īnfertilis (“unfruitful”) + -tās,^[1][2][3] the adjective being in-² and fertilis (“fruitful”).^[4] The glossaries equate it with Ancient Greek ἀγονία (agonía) “barrenness”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Jerome's translation of Origen's homilies on Ezekiel,^[2][5] where sinners are punished with eternal childlessness and the barrenness of the land is ascribed to them.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short know it only from the Philoxenus glossary,^[6] but the TLL also records it in Jerome and in the scholia on Horace.^[2] Hrabanus Maurus uses it figuratively of the spiritual barrenness of the Jewish people,^[7] and medieval writers apply it most often to the failure of crops and the poor yield of land and vineyards.^[8][9][10]

English infertility (about 1600) comes from French infertilité or directly from Late Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 383–420 AD – Jerome uses it of childlessness and of barren land.^[2][5][3]
• 800–856 – Hrabanus Maurus uses it of spiritual barrenness.^[7]
• 1193 – English chroniclers record a failure of crops in that year.^[8]
• 1515 – A Hungarian document speaks of a neglected and unproductive vineyard.^[9]
• c. 1600 – English has infertility.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Infertility, barrenness, childlessness.^[2][5][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Unproductiveness of land; crop failure.^[8][10][9]

Related words

• fertilis
• English infertility

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl