poesis

Forms

poēsis f (genitive poēsis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ποίησις (poíēsis, “making, creation; poetry”),^[2][1][3] a noun from ποιεῖν (poieîn, “to make, create; to compose poetry”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author with the word is the satirist Lucilius, who contrasts poesis, a whole poetical work such as an epic, with a poema, a short piece: “illa poesis opus totum” (“that, the poesis, is the whole work”).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin the word mostly meant a poetical composition or poetry as a body of verse, as opposed to prose;^[2][5] Varro defined it as a continuous subject set out in verse, like Homer's Iliad.^[2] Cicero and Horace use it in this sense,^[6][7] the latter in the famous comparison ut pictura poesis (“as is painting, so is poetry”).^[6] Quintilian is cited for the art of composing poems itself.^[6][5][7]

The Greek forms of the declension survive beside the Latin ones: genitive -is or -eos, accusative -in, ablative -ī.^[8] In Christian and medieval Latin it remained the word for poetry;^[9][3] an Old English glossary renders it with leoþweorc.^[3] Through Old French poesie the word passed to French poésie,^[1] and English poesy comes from the same Old French word.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius distinguishes poesis, a whole work, from a poema.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro defines poesis as a continuous subject in verse, like the Iliad.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace writes ut pictura poesis in the Ars poetica.^[6][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for the art of poetry.^[6][4]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius scans the e short.^[6][8][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows poesy from Old French.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Poetry, the work of a poet; poetry as opposed to prose.^[2][5]
2. A poem, a poetical composition.^[2][6]
3. The art of composing poems, poesy.^[6][7]

Related words

• poēma
• poēta
• English poesy

Usage notes

Lucilius and Varro set poesis, a long work as a whole, against poema, a single shorter poem.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com