Etymologically
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munditia

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Forms

munditia f (genitive munditiae); first declension[1] A fifth-declension form munditiēs is found in Catullus, Ovid and Gellius.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin mundus (“clean, neat”) + -itia.[2][1][4] De Vaan tentatively derives mundus from Proto-Indo-European *mud-no- (“happy”), from the root *meud- “to rejoice”, but finds the meaning not compelling.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[5][6] in whose Menaechmi someone orders the couches spread and perfumes lit, for elegance is a lure to lovers' minds.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is cleanliness, and munditiās facere is to clean or tidy up, as in Cato.[2][3] Seneca says the aediles had to enter the baths and demand cleanliness.[2] More often it is elegance or refinement of appearance, manners or taste: Cicero wants an elegance that is not too exquisite, Sallust says Marius did not train himself in Greek eloquence or city refinements, and Horace calls Pyrrha simple in her elegance.[2] Of language it is purity: Cicero says a plain style will keep its elegance and its pure Latin speech.[2] In Church and medieval Latin it is also moral purity.[7][8] Wiktionary lists mondezza among its descendants.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of elegance as a lure.[2][5][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of cleaning up.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of elegance of style.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of Pyrrha's simple elegance.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Cleanliness;[2][3][1][8] munditiās facere, to clean up.[2][3][1][8]
  2. Elegance, neatness, refinement of appearance, manners or taste.[2][1]
  3. Elegance or purity of language.[2]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Moral purity.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson