Etymologically
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puritas

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Forms

pūritās f (genitive pūritātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pūrus (“clean, pure”) + -tās.[1][2][3] The adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *pūro- (“pure”) and Proto-Indo-European *ph₂ú-ro- (“clear, cleansed”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wiktionary dates it from the 3rd century AD.[1] Arnobius (297–310 AD) uses it in the plural of the harmless purity of waters.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant physical cleanness: Palladius uses it of wine, and Macrobius has it too.[3][2] It was soon transferred to the purity of language, as when Jerome speaks of purity of speech and of a Ciceronian purity,[2] and to moral purity and innocence: the Vulgate's “purity of my hands” in Psalm 17,[2][3] Jerome's purity of morals, and in the Historia Augusta a pure, chaste way of life.[2] Symmachus uses it in his letters for a person's integrity.[2]

In Medieval Latin it could mean the plain truth,[6] and British writers used it for freedom from admixture, of blood, air, light, metal or coin, and for ritual purity.[7] English took it through Old French as purity about 1200.[8]

Timeline

  • 297–310 AD – Arnobius speaks of the purity of waters.[2][5]
  • c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it of a person's integrity.[2][5]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of purity of speech and of morals.[2][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has “the purity of my hands” in Psalm 17.[2][3][5]
  • end of 4th / beginning of 5th century AD – Palladius uses it of the clearness of wine.[3][5]
  • 533 AD – It appears in the Digest.[5]
  • c. 1200 – English borrows it, through Old French, as purite.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Cleanness, purity, clearness (of water or wine).[3][2][9]
  2. Purity, correctness of style or language.[2][1]
  3. Moral purity, innocence, chastity.[2][1][9]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The plain, simple truth.[6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Freedom from admixture (of blood, air, metal or coin); ritual purity.[7]
  • English purity

Usage notes

A second pūritās, “suppuration”, formed from pūs, appears once, of the blood, in Caelius Aurelianus (5th century AD).[2][10][3][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.