patiens

Forms

patiēns (genitive patientis, comparative patientior, superlative patientissimus); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is the present participle of patior (“to suffer, endure”), used as an adjective.^[1][2][3] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *pati- for the verb and finds its origin unclear: a link with Ancient Greek πῆμα (pêma, “suffering”) leaves the formation unexplained, and a root Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to fly, fall”) is another possibility.^[4] The TLL gives Ancient Greek μακρόθυμος (makróthumos, “long-suffering”) as its Greek equivalent.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.^[3] In the Trinummus the Syrians are called the hardiest race of men (genus quod patientissimumst hominum).^[1]

Semantic evolution

With the genitive it is able or willing to endure something, as Cicero's mind patient of hardships, and of things able to bear, as Livy's river that will not carry ships, or open to an influence.^[1] Without it, it is hardy, able to endure hardship, of things durable, as Propertius' woman harder than Sicilian rock, and of temper long-suffering, tolerant or patient, as Cicero's speaker thought too patient and slow.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “patient, long-suffering”.^[6] In medieval Latin the noun patiēns was a sick person, a patient.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a hardy race.^[1][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a mind able to bear hardship and of patience.^[1][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a river able to carry ships.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to endure, submissive (to); (of things) able to bear; open (to an influence).^[1][2]
2. Hardy, enduring, (of things) durable.^[1]
3. Long-suffering, tolerant, patient.^[1][6]
4. (Medieval Latin, noun) A sick person.^[7]

Related words

• patior
• patientia
• passiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill