potentatus

Forms

potentātus m (genitive potentātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin potēns + -ātus,^[2][1] the adjective potēns “powerful” being the present participle of possum (“to be able”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Caesar's Gallic War, of a fierce contest for supremacy;^[2] Lewis & Short also cite Cicero's De re publica for power that fell back to one man.^[5] In both it means political power, dominion.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Classical writers used it of political rule and command, much as principatus;^[5] the TLL places it beside potentia, dominatio, regnum and imperium.^[6] Döderlein groups it with potentia and potestas as words for a power exerted through and over other people, as against the inner strength of vis and robur.^[7]

In Christian Latin it was also used of might or power in general, as by Arnobius.^[5][8] Medieval documents used it for a lord's control and for the lordship itself, for an armed force, and in the plural for the mighty.^[9] English potentate (c. 1400) came from Late Latin potentatus, which had come to mean a ruler, partly through Old French.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar writes of a contest for supremacy.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of power that passed to one man.^[5][4]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of dominion.^[2][4]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of might in general.^[5][4]
• c. 1400 – English borrows potentate through Old French.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Political power, dominion, rule, command.^[2][5]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Might, strength, power.^[5][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A lord's seigniorial control; a seigniory.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) An armed force, a body of men.^[9]
5. (Medieval Latin, plural) The mighty, men of power.^[9]

Related words

• English potentate

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts potentia and potentatus with potestas: all three denote power over others, but potentia is power acquired in fact, whereas potestas is power conferred.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill