paritas

Forms

paritās f (genitive paritātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin pār (“equal”) + -tās,^[1][2] and is a Late Latin word.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Arnobius (297–310),^[5][4] who writes that equality cannot be contained in what is unequal.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In arithmetic it meant the evenness of a number that can be divided into two equal parts, in Martianus Capella and Boethius.^[6][7][2]

Medieval Latin used it for equality in size, number or proportion, for equality of condition, rank or power, and for uniformity.^[3] With the rise of the peers it also meant peerage, the rank of a peer:^[8][3] in a letter of 1264 the English king appeals to the archbishop of Reims on the ground of his peerage in France.^[3] It is the source of Italian parità.^[7]

Timeline

• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it for equality.^[5][4]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it for the evenness of a number.^[7][5]
• first quarter of the 6th century AD – Boethius uses it in his Arithmetic.^[2][5]
• 1264 – An English royal letter uses it for the rank of a peer of France.^[3]
• 1570s – Borrowed into English, from French or directly from Late Latin, as parity.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) equality, parity.^[4][2][10]
2. (Late Latin, arithmetic) The evenness of a number.^[6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Equality of condition, dignity or power.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) Uniformity.^[3]
5. (Medieval Latin) peerage, the rank of a peer.^[8][3]

Related words

• parilitas
• English parity

Usage notes

Du Cange glosses it with parilitas, the word Gellius used for equality.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre