litterarius

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [lɪt.tɛˈraː.ri.ʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [lit.teˈraː.ri.us]^[1]

Forms

litterārius (feminine litterāria, neuter litterārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled līterārius.^[2]

Etymology

It is from littera “letter” with the suffix -ārius.^[3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, lūdus litterārius, an elementary school.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant of reading and writing, lūdus litterārius was a school for teaching reading and writing, as in Plautus and Quintilian, and Varro used it of writing.^[3][2][6] Tacitus also uses it.^[6]

In Medieval Latin it meant literary, and written down.^[7] It survives in Italian letterario and Spanish literario, and through French littéraire it gave English literary in the 1640s, first “pertaining to alphabet letters”.^[1][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has lūdus litterārius.^[3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of writing.^[3][5]
• 1640s – English literary is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of reading and writing, lūdus litterārius, an elementary school.^[3]
2. (Medieval Latin) Literary; written.^[7]

Related words

• littera
• litterātus
• English literary

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill