pubertas

Forms

pūbertās f (genitive pūbertātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pūbēs (“adult; signs of manhood”) + -tās.^[2][1] The TLL thinks it was formed on the model of ūbertās (“fertility”).^[3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that word (from Cicero on); he notes the comparison, proposed by Adams, of that word with Sanskrit पुमांस् (púmāṃs-, “male, man”).^[4] Etymonline calls the base of uncertain origin.^[5]

The ancient grammarians disagreed on the base: Priscian derived it from the adjective meaning “grown-up”, and Isidore from the noun meaning the private parts, which first grow hair at that age.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[6] who in De natura deorum names teeth and the signs of puberty among the things that nature brings at their proper time.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it rarely in Cicero, Paulus' epitome of Festus, Valerius Maximus, Celsus and Seneca, more often in legal language from Sabinus on, and in verse only in Ausonius and Prudentius.^[3] It is the age or state of physical maturity:^[2][7] Celsus speaks of diseases that are not ended by puberty,^[2] and Quintilian cites the legal question whether puberty should be judged by years or by the body.^[3] Tertullian places it at about the fourteenth year for boys and the twelfth for girls,^[3] and Isidore defines it as the adult age that can beget children, beginning at fourteen.^[3] By extension Columella and Pliny the Elder use it of the maturity of plants and fruit.^[2]

The word stayed in medieval use: Aldhelm and Bede have it of youth, and Matthew Paris of the ripening of fruit.^[8] Through Old French and directly from Latin it gave English puberty in the late 14th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero names the signs of puberty.^[2][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus writes of diseases not ended by puberty.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of the maturity of plants.^[2][6]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius discusses how puberty is determined in law.^[3][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian sets puberty at about fourteen.^[3][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines it and explains its name.^[3][6]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as puberty.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The age or state of physical maturity, puberty; virility.^[2][7]
2. The physical signs of puberty.^[2]
3. (of plants and fruit) Maturity, ripeness.^[2][8]

Related words

• pūbēs
• impūbēs
• pūbēscō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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