Etymologically
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potentia

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [pɔˈtɛn.ti.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [poˈtɛn.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

potentia f (genitive potentiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from potēns “able, powerful” with the suffix -ia.[2][1][3] Etymonline traces ⟨potēns⟩ to potis “able” and Proto-Indo-European *poti- (“powerful”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Cicero, of power over others.[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant power over others, influence, as distinct from potestās, official power, and in Virgil rule, sway.[2] It meant ability, power to do something, as Livy's armōrum tenendōrum potentia “power to hold arms”, and in Ovid an active property, efficacy, as of the sun, beauty or a disease.[2][6][7] Döderlein explains that potentia and potestās are an outward power exercised through and over men, vīs and rōbur an inner strength.[8]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant power, strength, might, ability, potency.[9] Medieval Latin used it of an armed force and of a crutch, and scholastic Latin of potentiality, as opposed to āctus.[10][11] It gave English potency in the mid-15th century and English potence through Old French, and Medieval Latin potentiālis gave English potential.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of influence.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of rule.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of efficacy.[2][5]
  • mid-15th century – English potency is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Power, influence; rule.[2]
  2. Ability, capacity.[2]
  3. An active property; efficacy, potency.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) An armed force.[10]
  5. (scholastic) Potentiality.[11]

Word family

  • potentiālis
  • potentiāliter

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 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  11. ^ a b 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