iuventas

Forms

iuventās f (genitive iuventātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iuvenis (“young”) + -tās.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces iuvenis to Proto-Italic *juwen- (“young”) and Proto-Indo-European *h2iu-h1en- (“who possesses vital force”), hence “young”, and counts iuventūs as more original than this word and iuventa.^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit युवन् (yúvan-, “young; young man”) and Lithuanian jáunas (“young”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Lucretius,^[4][5] who writes that youth clothes the cheeks with soft down: iuventas … molli vestit lanugine malas.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means the period or condition of early manhood, youth,^[2] a poetic word, much rarer than iuventa and iuventūs;^[3][6] poets use it in the nominative singular, and the plural is not found.^[3] Virgil, Horace and Tibullus have it,^[7] Virgil's prīma iuventās is the first down of youth,^[7] and Horace uses it of youthful vigour.^[7] Personified, Iuventās is the goddess of youth, identified with Hebe:^[2] Cicero writes of the gods feasting while she serves the cups,^[2] and Livy and Horace name her too.^[7][6] Döderlein distinguishes iuventa, the season of youth, from iuventūs, a body of young men, and Iuventās, the goddess.^[8] Medieval glossaries in Britain explain it as youth, the state of being young.^[9]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of youth.^[2][4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses Iuventās of the goddess of youth.^[2][7][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil has prīma iuventās.^[7][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy names the goddess.^[7][6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The period or condition of early manhood, youth.^[2][6][1]
2. (poetic) The first down of youth; youthful vigour.^[7]
3. (personified) Iuventās, the goddess of youth, identified with Hebe.^[2][6]

Related words

• iuvenis
• iuventūs
• iuventa

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ 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