positio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [pɔˈsɪ.ti.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [poˈs̬it.t͡si.o]^[1]

Forms

positiō f (genitive positiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from the supine stem ⟨posit-⟩ of pōnō “to put, place” with the suffix -tiō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Seneca, of arrangement and position, and Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan.^[2][4] Köbler dates Seneca 4 BC–65 AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a placing, of words in a sentence, the planting of crops, as in Columella, and the arrangement of parts, the lie of terrain, as in Seneca.^[2][6] It meant the position or situation of a thing, and in prosody the position of a syllable, as in Quintilian.^[2] In rhetoric it was the presentation of a theme, in rhythm the downbeat, Greek thésis, and in grammar prīma positiō the basic form of a word.^[2] In Seneca and Ulpian it meant an attitude or state.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant position, act of placing.^[7] English position came in the late 14th century through Old French, first in logic of the laying down of a proposition.^[8]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of arrangement and position.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of planting.^[6][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it in prosody and grammar.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English position is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A placing; planting.^[2]
2. Arrangement; the lie of land.^[2]
3. Position, situation, (prosody) position of a syllable.^[2]
4. (rhetoric) Presentation of a theme.^[2]
5. (rhythm) The downbeat, thesis.^[2]
6. (grammar) The basic form of a word.^[2]
7. An attitude; a condition.^[2]

Related words

• pōnō
• positus
• compositiō
• English position

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com