materialis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [maː.tɛ.riˈaː.lɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ma.te.riˈaː.lis]^[1]

Forms

māteriālis (neuter māteriāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin māteria (“matter, material”) + -ālis.^[2][1][3] Māteria is from māter “mother”, and in philosophy it rendered Greek Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Tertullian.^[4] Köbler dates him about 160–220 AD.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The OLD gives it the sense “concerned with subject matter”.^[2][5] Lewis & Short call it post-classical in the sense “of matter, material”, as Macrobius' material influence and Ambrose.^[6][7] The adverb materialiter meant “materially” or “according to the occasion”, as in Sidonius.^[6][8]

In medieval Latin, and in scholastic philosophy, it meant made of matter, earthly and worldly, as opposed to spiritual, also man-made, and in medicine physical or organic.^[5][4] Logicians spoke of suppositio materialis, a word taken only as letters or sounds.^[9] English material is recorded in the mid-14th century as a term of scholastic philosophy and theology.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it.^[4]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it.^[6][4]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it of material influence.^[6][4]
• mid-14th century – English material is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Concerned with subject matter.^[2][5]
2. (Late Latin) Of matter, material.^[6][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Earthly, worldly; physical.^[5][4]

Related words

• materia
• English material

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com