opulentia

Forms

opulentia f (genitive opulentiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin opulentus (“wealthy”) + -ia.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists opulentus among the derivatives of ops (“power, resources”), from Proto-Italic *opi-, and mentions Livingston's view that adjectives in ⟨-ulentus⟩ arose by dissimilation from an older suffix Proto-Italic *-owent-o-.^[4] For ops he compares Hittite happina- (“rich”) and Sanskrit अप्नस् (ápnas-, “possession, property”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL find it first in Plautus, who uses the plural in the Trinummus.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

It means riches or affluence: Sallust sets public poverty against private wealth, and Cicero speaks of a tyrant's deed done by force and wealth.^[2][6] Livy uses it of the splendour of an army's equipment, and Virgil of the wealth of Troy.^[2][6] Lewis & Short say it is not in Cicero or Caesar,^[6] though the OLD cites Cicero's early De inventione.^[2] In Church Latin it keeps the senses of opulence, riches and power.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the plural.^[3][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust of private wealth set against public need.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the sumptuous arms of an army.^[2][5]
• c. 1500 – English opulence is borrowed through French.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Riches, wealth, affluence.^[2][6][1]
2. Sumptuousness, opulence, splendour; of style, richness.^[2]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Resources, power.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com