Etymologically
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naturalis

Etymology and origin of the Latin word naturalis

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Rhetorica ad Herennium
Ultimate origin
Latin (nāscor)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [naː.tuːˈraː.lɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [na.tuˈraː.lis][1]

Forms

nātūrālis (neuter nātūrāle, adverb nātūrāliter); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from nātūra “nature” with the suffix -ālis.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation for innate qualities is from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, and Varro uses it of what occurs in nature.[2] Köbler dates the Rhetorica ad Herennium 86/82 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant occurring in nature, natural as opposed to artificial, as in Varro, and euphemistically nātūrālia the genitals, as in Celsus.[2] Of kin it meant natural as opposed to adoptive, as Cicero's nātūrālis pater, and in Ulpian a son born in slavery.[2][5] From Cicero it meant of the physical world, physical, of natural science, and of causes natural as opposed to supernatural.[2] It meant constituted by nature, innate, and iūs nātūrāle the ideal law implanted by nature, as in Cicero.[2] It also meant normal, unforced, and characteristic.[2] Isidore calls natural philosophy the part that discusses the nature of each thing, and natural astrology that which follows the courses of sun, moon and stars.[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant natural, and also illegitimate.[7] Medieval Latin used it of a dependant whose status came by birth.[8] Through Old French naturel and directly from Latin it gave English natural about 1300, first “inborn, hereditary”.[9]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of innate qualities.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of what is natural.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses iūs nātūrāle and nātūrālis pater.[2][5][4]
  • c. 1300 – English natural is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Natural, not artificial, nātūrālia, the genitals.[2]
  2. Of kin, natural, not adoptive.[2]
  3. Physical; of natural science.[2]
  4. Innate, iūs nātūrāle, natural law.[2]
  5. Normal; characteristic.[2]
  6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Illegitimate.[7]

Word family

  • extranaturalis
  • nātūrālitās
  • nātūrālitus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Naturalis.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/naturalis. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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