Etymologically
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intellegens

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Forms

intellegēns (genitive intellegentis, comparative intellegentior, superlative intellegentissimus); third-declension adjective of one termination[1][2] The spelling intelligēns is also found.[3]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin intellegō (“to understand”).[1][4][2] That verb is a compound of inter- and legō2 (“to gather, collect”);[1] de Vaan takes the ⟨-e-⟩ of ⟨-legere⟩ as a sign of a fairly recent compound, and traces the sense from “gather, collect” to “concentrate on”.[5] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *leg-e- and Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-e/o- (“to collect”).[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to collect, count; speak”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Terence,[6] who asks stulto intellegens quid interest? “what difference is there between a man of sense and a fool?”, with the sense “having understanding, discerning”.[1]

Semantic evolution

Cicero, translating Plato's Timaeus, uses it of what is endowed with intelligence.[1][2] More often it means discerning or competent: Cicero asks whether the judgement of the crowd always agrees with that of the intellegentes, the experts,[1][2] sets a homo ingeniosus et intellegens against the idiotae, the laymen, in matters of art,[1][4] and construes it with in and the ablative (in hisce rebus intellegens) or with the genitive (eius generis intellegens).[1][2] Tacitus has the genitive too: filius imminentium intellegens, a son aware of what was coming.[1][2] The comparative intellegentior appears in Augustine's Retractationes.[4][7] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the sense “intelligent, knowing, able to perceive”.[3]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a person of understanding.[1][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of experts and connoisseurs, and of what is endowed with intelligence.[1][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus construes it with the genitive, “aware of”.[1][2][6]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses the comparative intellegentior.[4][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Endowed with intelligence.[1][2]
  2. Having keen understanding, discerning;[1][4][7] (with genitive or in + ablative) knowledgeable about something, a connoisseur of it;[1][4][7] (plural, as a noun) experts, connoisseurs.[1][4][7]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.