operativus

Forms

operātīvus (feminine operātīva, neuter operātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin operor (“to work”), with the suffix -īvus added to the stem of its participle operātus.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Latin Oribasius uses it of remedies, meaning effective: the juice of a herb is called very operativus.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL glosses it as working or effective, said of divine power, of human nature and of medicines.^[2] Augustine uses it of what was made through the Word, and the dictionaries render it there as creative or formative.^[4][2][5][6] The Latin Alexander of Tralles also has it of a juice that works against deafness.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant effective^[7] and, in philosophy, concerned with action or causing an effect, as in virtus operativa.^[8] Köbler lists it in the Summa theologiae.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 325–c. 403 AD – The Latin Oribasius calls a remedy operativus, effective.^[2][3]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of creative divine power.^[4][2][3]
• c. 525–c. 605 AD – The Latin Alexander of Tralles uses it of a medicinal juice.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. effective, active, especially of remedies.^[2][7]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) creative, formative.^[4][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) operative, concerned with action or causing an effect.^[8]

Related words

• English operative

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ 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 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