quantitas

Forms

quantitās f (genitive quantitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quantus (“how great, how much”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] It was made as a translation of Ancient Greek ποσότης (posótēs, “quantity”), from πόσος (pósos, “how great? how much?”),^[4][1] like quālitās.^[1] Wiktionary credits the coinage to Cicero,^[1] although the earliest citation the OLD gives is from Vitruvius.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's and Köbler's first author is Vitruvius, who uses it of size, for example the size of the intervals between musical tones.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short think it perhaps only post-Augustan.^[5] Quintilian uses it as one of the ten categories, divided into how large and how many a thing is, and of the volume of the voice.^[2][5] Pliny the Elder has it for an amount of moisture, and Apuleius for a large amount.^[2]

The jurists used it for a specified amount, above all a sum of money,^[2][5] and the logicians for the quantity of a proposition, whether universal or particular.^[5][6] Boethius and Cassiodorus use it of the philosophical category.^[7] Medieval Latin used it of the size of bodies, land and time, and in music of the duration of a note.^[8]

It was borrowed into English as quantity in the early 14th century, partly through Old French ⟨quantite⟩;^[4] Italian quantità also continues it.^[7][4]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of size and extent.^[2][3]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian counts it among the ten categories.^[2][3]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a large amount.^[2][3]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a sum of money.^[2][3]
• early 14th century – English borrows it as quantity.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Magnitude, size, extent, degree.^[2][5][6]
2. A (specified) amount, quantity.^[2][5]
3. A sum of money.^[2][5]
4. A large quantity.^[2]
5. (logic) The quantity of a proposition, whether it is universal or particular.^[5][6]
6. (Medieval Latin, music) The duration of a note.^[8]

Word family

• quantitātīvus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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