natura

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [naːˈtuː.ra], [naːˈtuː.raː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [naˈtuː.ra], [naˈtuː.ra]^[1]

Forms

nātūra f (genitive nātūrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nāscor (“to be born”) + -tura.^[2][1] The verb is inherited from Proto-Italic *gnāsk-e/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁-sk-e/o- (“to be born”).^[3]

Ancient writers such as Isidore of Seville also derived it from the verb for “to be born”, since nature makes things be born.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[3][5] who asks what a man must be like “with that nature and character”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its rare first sense was birth, as in Terence's “you are his father by nature, I by counsel”.^[6][7] From the conditions of birth it came to mean the natural constitution of a thing, a person's character or temperament, and natural gifts as opposed to training, as in Cicero.^[2]

It meant nature as the power that governs the universe, as in Cicero's “it is nature that holds the whole world together”, the natural course of things, natura rerum, and the physical world itself, as in Varro.^[2] It also meant a category of being, naturalness in art, and the organs of generation.^[2][8] In medieval music it named the natural hexachord.^[9] English nature came from it through Old French in the late 13th century.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a person's character.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses natura pater, “father by birth”.^[6][7][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the power that sustains the world.^[2][5]
• late 13th century – English nature is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Birth.^[6][1]
2. The natural constitution, quality or essence of a thing.^[2][1]
3. Nature, the power that governs the world.^[2][1]
4. natura rerum: the natural course of things; the universe.^[2]
5. The physical world, creation.^[2][1]
6. Character, temperament, disposition.^[2][1]
7. Natural abilities.^[2]
8. Naturalness (in art).^[2]
9. A category of existence.^[2]
10. The organs of generation.^[2][1]
11. (Medieval Latin, music) The natural hexachord.^[9]

Word family

• nātūrābilis
• nātūrālis
• naturificatus

Related words

• nātūrālitās
• nātūrāliter
• nascor
• English nature

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes natura, the disposition of the heart, from ingenium, that of the mind, and both from indoles, disposition as capacity for growth.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b 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 Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper