primitivus

Forms

prīmitīvus (feminine prīmitīva, neuter prīmitīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prīmitiae + -īvus, from the word for first fruits.^[2][3] The TLL compares the pair redivīvus and reduviae.^[3] Wiktionary and Etymonline instead derive it from prīmitus (“originally, at first”), from prīmus (“first”).^[1][4] Among the ancient grammarians Priscian already derived it from the ordinal, and Augustine perhaps from the adverb.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is post-Augustan:^[5] the first author is Columella,^[6][5] who uses it of flowers that bloom first and of the first years of a plant.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Its general sense was “first or earliest of its kind”.^[5][2] The grammarians, Priscian among them, used verba primitiva for primitive words, the bases from which others are derived.^[5][7] The neuter plural primitiva meant the first fruits in Solinus and in Church writers,^[7] and Prudentius uses it of a first-born offspring.^[5] In Church Latin it is “firstborn”.^[8]

The Itala, the Old Latin Bible, has it too;^[6] the TLL notes the spellings -tibus and -tius in the Old Latin Bible and in manuscripts of the Vulgate.^[3] In medieval British writing it was “ancient, original”, used of the first in a line of succession.^[9] English primitive was borrowed in the late 14th century, from Old French and directly from this word.^[4]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Columella speaks of flowers that bloom first.^[5][6]
• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it.^[6]
• 1st half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses primitiva for first fruits.^[7][6]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of a first-born offspring.^[5][6]
• 6th century AD – Priscian uses it for primitive words in grammar.^[5][6]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as primitive.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Early, first-formed; the first or earliest of its kind.^[2][5]
2. (grammar) Primitive, not derived (of words).^[5][7]
3. (Late Latin) First-born.^[5][8]
4. (Late Latin, neuter plural as a noun) First fruits.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) Original, ancient.^[9]

Related words

• primitiae
• primitus
• primus
• English primitive

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ 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