Etymologically
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positio

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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]

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