planities

Forms

plānitiēs f (genitive plānitiēī); fifth declension^[1] A rare first-declension plānitia occurs in Cicero and Caesar.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin plānus (“flat, level”) + -itiēs.^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨plānus⟩ to Proto-Italic *plāno-, Proto-Indo-European *pl(e)h₂-nó- (“flattened”), cognate with Lithuanian plónas (“thin”) and Hittite palḫi- (“wide”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Sisenna, of level ground.^[2] Köbler dates Sisenna 120–67 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant flatness, levelness, as of a plain in the Bellum Africum; level ground, a plain, as in Sisenna and Caesar; and flatness in any plane, as of faces without noses in Pliny.^[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means plain, level surface.^[7] British Medieval Latin used it for a flat surface, a plain, and the surface of the sea.^[8]

Timeline

• 120–67 BC – Sisenna uses it of level ground.^[2][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses plānitia.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of flat faces.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Flatness, levelness.^[2]
2. A plain, level ground.^[2][7]

Related words

• plānus
• plānum
• plānitia

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ 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