infirmitas

Forms

īnfirmitās f (genitive īnfirmitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnfirmus + -tās, from the adjective “weak”,^[2][1][3] which is formed from in- (“not”) and firmus (“strong, firm”).^[1] De Vaan derives ⟨firmus⟩ from Proto-Italic *fermo- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo- (“holding”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Terence,^[4] who asks what weakness, that is instability, a marriage still has.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is lack of strength or weakness, as Varro's vine shoot barren from weakness, and of people frailness of body or health, as Cicero's weak lungs; in Pliny the Younger it is an illness.^[2][3] It is also defencelessness or lack of military strength, weakness in operation or ineffectiveness, weakness of character, and instability, immaturity of mind or unreliability, as Quintilian's warning not to overload the immaturity of learners.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “infirmity, sickness, disease, weakness”,^[5] and in medieval Latin it is invalidity or illness.^[6] English infirmity, from the late 14th century, is from French and directly from Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of the instability of a marriage.^[2][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of a weak vine shoot.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of weak health and of human frailty.^[2][8]
• late 14th century – English infirmity.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of strength, weakness, feebleness.^[2][3][1]
2. Frailness of body; ill health, sickness.^[2][1][5][6]
3. Defencelessness; lack of military strength.^[2]
4. Ineffectiveness, inadequacy.^[2]
5. Weakness of character; instability, immaturity, unreliability.^[2]

Related words

• īnfirmus
• firmus
• firmitās
• English infirmity

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de