moralitas

Forms

mōrālitās f (genitive mōrālitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mōrālis (“of manners, moral”) + -tās.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from the fourth century on in Christian writers and the grammarians;^[2] it may go back to Tertullian, but the TLL gives it with certainty only from Ambrose.^[2] Donatus' commentary on Terence uses it for the portrayal of character in a play.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the grammarians and rhetoricians it is the portrayal of character: Fortunatianus says it belongs to the ethical kind of speech that considers people's manners, as comedies do,^[2] and Macrobius uses it for characterisation.^[3][5] Ambrose used it for morality.^[3][6]

Medieval writers used it for good morals, moral character and the conduct that comes from it,^[7][8] and for ethics as a field of study.^[8] Peter of Blois complains that a man is promoted for venality, not morality: non moralitas sed venalitas.^[7][6] In the late fifteenth century it named a morality play.^[6] In New Latin it was also the moral meaning of a poet's fiction.^[9] English took it over in the late 14th century as morality, from Old French and directly from Late Latin.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 310–380 AD – Donatus uses it for the portrayal of character in Terence.^[2][4]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it for morality.^[3][2][4]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it for characterisation.^[3][5][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it.^[8][4]
• second half of the 12th century – Peter of Blois sets moralitas against venalitas.^[7][6][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as morality.^[10]
• 1497 – Statutes of the church of Toul mention moralitates.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Character, the portrayal of manners and character.^[3][2][11]
2. Morality, moral conduct.^[3][12][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) Moral character and the behaviour that comes from it.^[8][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Ethics as a field of study.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A morality play.^[6]
6. (New Latin) The moral meaning of a story or fiction.^[9]

Related words

• mōrālis
• mos
• English morality

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ a b c d Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
8. ^ a b c d e f 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
9. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson