intellectualis

Forms

intellēctuālis (neuter intellēctuāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin intellēctus (“understanding”) + -ālis.^[1][2][3] The noun intellēctus is the past participle of intellegō (“to understand, discern”) used as a noun.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is the first certain author to use it:^[2][5] in his treatise on the soul he sets the bodily senses beside the intellectual ones (sensus corporales et intellectuales).^[2] The TLL marks an earlier instance in Apuleius' work on Plato as doubtful.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of Christian and philosophical prose:^[2][3] Tertullian, Martianus Capella and Augustine use it of what belongs to the mind or the understanding, often in contrast with the senses (sensualis, corporalis).^[2][3][6] It was also said of beings endowed with understanding, and used as a noun in the plural.^[2]

Medieval Latin kept the senses “intelligent” and “of the intellect” and added “spiritual”.^[7][8] In Thomas Aquinas it describes what belongs to the supersensible part of human nature, a synonym of intelligibilis and rationalis and the opposite of sensibilis.^[9] English took the word over in the late 14th century as intellectual, “grasped by the understanding”, from Old French and directly from Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian contrasts the bodily senses with the intellectual ones.^[2][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in his literal commentary on Genesis.^[10][3][5]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it.^[3][11][5]
• 798 – Alcuin writes in a letter of the “intellectual ears” of his reader.^[12]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as intellectual.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the intellect or understanding, intellectual, as opposed to the senses.^[2][10][13]
2. Endowed with understanding, intelligent.^[2][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Spiritual.^[7]
4. (scholastic) Supersensible, belonging to the higher part of human nature.^[9]

Word family

• intellectualitas

Usage notes

The adverb intellēctuāliter “intellectually” occurs in Claudianus Mamertus.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
10. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson