Etymologically
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orbitas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɔr.bɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔr.bi.tas][1]

Forms

orbitās f (genitive orbitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin orbus (“bereaved”) + -tās.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces orbus to Proto-Italic *orfo- (“heir, orphan”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃orbʰ-o- (“turning, one who is turned over”), hence “inheritance, heir”; after Weiss the root meant passing from one social class to another.[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “orphaned”), Old Irish orb (“heir”) and Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌱𐌹 (arbi, “inheritance”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] who uses it of childlessness, of bringing children up to be lost.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is the loss of a relative or other dear one, especially of a child, as Seneca's man struck by every kind of bereavement.[2] It is also orphanhood, as Cicero's children commended to the people as their guardian, and childlessness.[2][5] Cicero explains it as lacking children, a sad thing, just as lacking eyes is blindness.[3] In general it is loss or deprivation of anything, as Pliny the Elder's loss of an eye, and in Apuleius blindness.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of childlessness.[2][4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of orphanhood.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of bereavement.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the loss of an eye.[2][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of blindness.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Bereavement, the loss of a relative or dear one, especially a child.[2][5][1]
  2. Orphanhood.[2][5]
  3. Childlessness.[2][5]
  4. Loss or deprivation of anything; blindness.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de