laetitia

Forms

laetitia f (genitive laetitiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin laetus (“glad, joyful”) + -itia.^[1][2][3][4] The origin of laetus is unknown: Walde, Hofmann and Pokorny took “fat, rich” as its first sense and linked it with lārdum (“bacon”) and largus (“generous”), a reconstruction de Vaan calls very artificial.^[5][4] Isidore explained the spelling with a diphthong by deriving the word from lātitūdō (“breadth”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[5][6] who has iste pariet laetitiam labōs, “that labour will bring forth joy”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Laetitia is joy, gladness, delight, especially joy that shows itself openly, Cicero defines it as the fresh belief in a present good that makes one feel elated.^[2][7] Like laetus, it is also used of land and plants, “fertility, luxuriance” (Columella), and in Tacitus of a florid, ornate style.^[2]

Döderlein contrasts gaudēre, joy as an inner state, with laetārī, joy expressed outwardly.^[8] Church Latin glosses it “gladness, happiness, delight”.^[9] The English name Letitia comes from it.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: iste pariet laetitiam labōs.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero defines laetitia.^[7][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella of the fertility of the soil.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of a florid style.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. joy, gladness, delight.^[2][7][1][9]
2. Fertility (of land), luxuriance (of plants).^[2]
3. Floridity (of style).^[2]

Related words

• laetus
• laetor
• gaudium

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 j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson