litterarius
This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 18:04. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Pronunciation
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
- Of reading and writing, lūdus litterārius, an elementary school.[3]
- (Medieval Latin) Literary; written.[7]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill