Etymologically
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novicius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [nɔˈwiː.ki.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [noˈviː.t͡ʃi.us][1]

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]
  • 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