iuventa

Forms

iuventa f (genitive iuventae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled juventa.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from iuvenis (“young”); the OLD suggests it was short for ⟨iuventa aetās⟩, like senecta (“old age”).^[2][3] De Vaan regards iuventūs as the older abstract, and traces ⟨iuvenis⟩ to Proto-Italic *juwen- (“young”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁en- (“possessing vital force, young”), cognate with Lithuanian jaunas (“young”).^[4] Wiktionary compares Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌹 (jundai, “youth”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler give Laberius as its first author: quem nūlla vīs in iuventā dē statū movēre potuit, “whom no force could move from his position in youth”.^[4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is the time of youth, and the state of being young: Cicero has prīmō ā flōre iuventae, “from the first flower of youth”.^[2] Concretely it is young men as a group (Valerius Flaccus), and Silius uses it of youthful vigour.^[2] Personified it is the goddess of youth, Hebe, to whom Ovid's Medea builds an altar.^[2] Lewis and Short find it mostly after Augustus, for classical ⟨iuventūs⟩.^[5]

Church Latin glosses it “age of youth, time of youth, teens”.^[6]

Timeline

• 106–43 BC – Laberius of the time of youth.^[4][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the flower of youth.^[2][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the goddess of youth.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The age of youth; youthfulness.^[2][1][6]
2. Young men, the youth; youthful vigour.^[2]
3. (personified) The goddess of youth, Hebe.^[2]

Related words

• iuvenis
• iuventūs
• iūnior

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes iuventa, the season of youth, from iuventūs, a body of young men, and Iuventās, the goddess of youth.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper