novicius

Forms

novīcius (feminine novīcia, neuter novīcium); first/second-declension adjective^[1] In Late Latin it is also spelled novītius.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin novus (“new”) + -īcius.^[3][1][4] That adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *nowo- and Proto-Indo-European *neuo- (“new, young”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[4][5] of a newly enslaved man: recens captum hominem, nuperum, novicium, “a man freshly caught, recent, new”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short note that it was mostly a technical word.^[2] It was used above all of slaves newly imported or bought: Terence of girls, Cicero of “the herd of new slaves”, Quintilian and Petronius likewise.^[3][2][6] From this it meant anyone new to a condition, as Varro writes “while we are new” to farming, and Juvenal of a newly dead man who shudders at the ferryman.^[3][2] Of things it meant recently devised, sometimes newfangled: a new trade in Plautus, new wine and new colours in Pliny the Elder.^[3][2] Quintilian uses the neuter for newly coined words, and Gellius has a fashionable crowd of grammarians.^[2][3]

In Christian Latin it became the word for a monastic novice, already in Cassian.^[6][7] British medieval sources use it of newly professed monks and priests and of novices with their master.^[8] It survives in Italian novizio,^[6] and English novice comes from it through Old French.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a newly enslaved man and of a new trade.^[3][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of newly bought girls.^[3][2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of new slaves.^[3][2][5]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of a newly dead man.^[3][2][5]
• c. 360–c. 435 AD – Cassian uses it of a monastic novice.^[6][5]
• mid-14th century – English borrows novice through Old French.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of slaves) Newly imported or bought;^[3][2] (as a noun) a newly imported slave.^[3][2]
2. (of a person) New to a condition, inexperienced.^[3][2]
3. (of things) Recently discovered or devised; newfangled.^[3][2]
4. (of a person) Recently become prominent, fashionable.^[3]
5. (Medieval Latin) Newly professed or ordained.^[8]

Noun

1. (neuter) A newly coined word.^[2]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A monastic novice.^[6][7][8]

Related words

• English novice

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from novus: novus simply means new, while novicius adds the idea of a novice who must still get used to something or be taught before being fit for it.^[10]

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper