rectitudo

Forms

rēctitūdō f (genitive rēctitūdinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin rēctus (“straight”) + -tūdō,^[1][2][3] whose base is the participle of regō (“to guide, rule”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it only in prose, from the Old Latin Bible on,^[2] which Köbler dates to the end of the 2nd century AD.^[4] Tertullian quotes Luke 3:5 with the crooked ways made in rectitudinem (Greek εἰς εὐθεῖαν), and an Old Latin psalter has pes meus stetit in rectitudine “my foot stood in uprightness” (Greek ἐν εὐθύτητι).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Jerome, on Isaiah 26:7, introduces the plural rectitudines as a word he is coining (ut verbum novum fingam) for the Greek εὐθύτητας, adding that aequitates would be more Latin.^[2] Augustine uses it more than fifty times and Gregory the Great about three hundred times.^[2] Besides moral uprightness it meant physical straightness, in the land surveyors and Isidore, and correctness, in Justinian's Novels.^[5][6]

Medieval Latin widened its legal senses: equity, justice, the law or a legal rule, the administration of justice, jurisdiction, satisfaction given or obtained at law, a right or title, a due, and orthodoxy.^[7] British sources also use it of straightness, a vertical line and an upright posture.^[8] English took rectitude in the early 15th century for straightness; the moral sense dates from the 1530s.^[3]

Timeline

• end of 2nd century AD – The Old Latin Bible uses it for the Greek εὐθύτης.^[2][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it more than fifty times.^[2][4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome presents rectitudines as a new coinage.^[2][4]
• 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great uses it about three hundred times.^[2][4]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as rectitude, first for straightness.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Straightness, directness.^[6][5][8]
2. Correctness.^[5]
3. Uprightness, rectitude; equity.^[6][5][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) Justice; the law, a legal rule; jurisdiction.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) Satisfaction given or obtained at law.^[7]
6. (Medieval Latin) A right or title; a due.^[7]
7. (Medieval Latin) Orthodoxy.^[7]

Related words

• English rectitude

Usage notes

For fairness and moral uprightness the classical word was aequitas;^[6][5] Jerome himself says that aequitates is the more Latin rendering.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
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
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson