latitudo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɫaː.tɪˈtuː.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [la.tiˈtuː.do]^[1]

Forms

lātitūdō f (genitive lātitūdinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lātus (“broad, wide”) + -tūdō.^[2][1] Lātus is *slāto-; its further origin is uncertain.^[3] In the geographical sense it is a calque of Ancient Greek κλίμα (klíma).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cato (234–149 BC).^[4] Cato gives the width of a pressing room.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant breadth or width, as Caesar's width of a ditch and camp stretching more than eight miles in breadth, and Cicero's “immensity of breadths, lengths, heights”.^[2][5] It meant broadness, as the broad shoulders of oxen in Cicero, and extent or size.^[2][1]

Cicero uses verborum latitudo of a broad, drawling pronunciation, and it also meant fullness of style.^[2][6] As an astronomical and geographical term it meant latitude.^[2][1] English latitude was borrowed in the late 14th century, first meaning “breadth”.^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a room's width.^[2][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of the width of a ditch.^[5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a broad pronunciation.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – English latitude is borrowed.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Breadth, width.^[2][1]
2. Broadness; extent, size.^[2][1]
3. A broad pronunciation; fullness of style.^[2][6]
4. (geography, astronomy) Latitude.^[2][1]

Related words

• lātipēs
• lātitia
• lātus
• English latitude

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com