informativus

Forms

īnfōrmātīvus (feminine īnfōrmātīva, neuter īnfōrmātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin īnfōrmō (“to shape, form, inform”) + -īvus.^[2] The DMLBS classes it as a Medieval Latin word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest source Köbler gives is the Summa theologiae of Thomas Aquinas (1265–1273).^[2] In the medical and philosophical texts that the DMLBS cites, the virtus informativa is the formative power that shapes the body in generation, and a defect of it was blamed for monstrous births.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Niermeyer glosses it simply as “formative”.^[4] The MLW records, besides this philosophical and scientific sense, a general one, “bringing knowledge, instructive”, and a use as a noun for a written instruction.^[5]

Regional dictionaries show the same senses: in Hungary it described an arrangement made on the instruction or judgment of others,^[6] in Poland teachings that educate,^[7] and in the Czech lands both “instructive” and “giving form”.^[8] Ecclesiastical Latin has it as “informative”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1265–1273 – Thomas Aquinas uses it in the Summa theologiae.^[2]
• 1276 – A Carinthian charter uses it as a noun for a written instruction.^[5]
• 1432 – A Hungarian document speaks of a settlement reached on the informativa compositio of upright and noble men.^[6]
• 1450 – A Polish letter uses it of moral teachings meant to educate a son in his youth.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Giving form, formative (in natural philosophy and medicine).^[4][3][5]
2. Instructive, informative.^[5][9][8]
3. (Hungary) Conveying an instruction, order or judgment.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
7. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
8. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson