quantitativus

Forms

quantitātīvus (feminine quantitātīva, neuter quantitātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quantitās (“quantity”) + -īvus, a medieval formation.^[2][3] The noun is formed from quantus (“how great, how much”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it in the minor Latin rhetoricians, without a date.^[3] In British sources it appears in scholastic writers such as Kilwardby and Bacon, meaning “relating to quantity” or “having quantity”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It became a term of scholastic logic and metaphysics: Duns contrasts the quantitative parts of a thing with the parts that make up its definition, and Wyclif uses it of parts and wholes.^[2] In Thomas Aquinas it refers to bodily magnitude, in phrases such as pars quantitativa, totum quantitativum and divisio quantitativa.^[4] In music theory a definition cited from Franco calls measure a quantitative relation that shows the length and shortness of a mensurable song.^[2]

Philosophical texts of late medieval Poland use it in the same sense,^[5] and it is the Latin model of the modern adjective “quantitative”.^[1]

Timeline

• 1st half of the 14th century – Ockham says that the body of Christ in the Eucharist has quantity but not a quantitative mode.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to quantity, or having quantity; quantitative, especially in logic and metaphysics.^[2][4][5][1]
2. (music) Relating to the length of notes in mensural music.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
5. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl