Etymologically
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prosperitas

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Forms

prosperitās f (genitive prosperitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prosperus (“favourable, prosperous”) + -tās.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, who has it four times, is its first author:[3][4] in On the Nature of the Gods he speaks of the prosperity of life that people have from the gods, and of improbōrum prosperitātēs “the successes of the wicked”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is rare: four times in Cicero, twice in Nepos, once each in Pliny the Elder, Tacitus and Suetonius.[3] It meant a favourable state, good fortune, success;[2][5] Nepos uses it of good health, and Apuleius of favourable winds.[5][2] It became frequent in Late Latin, above all in Ammianus Marcellinus, Rufinus and Augustine,[3] and Ammianus also used it of a sign of joy and approval.[5]

Medieval Latin used it of worldly well-being, of health as opposed to sickness, and of the final blessedness after the resurrection.[6] English prosperity comes from it, partly through Old French, around 1200.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the prosperity of life given by the gods.[3][5][4]
  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses it of good health.[5][4]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of favourable winds.[2][4]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it often.[3][4]
  • c. 1200 – English borrows prosperity.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. prosperity, good fortune, success.[2][5]
  2. A favourable condition or influence, as of winds or health.[2][5]
  3. (Late Latin) A sign of joy or approval.[5][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Health, as opposed to sickness.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com