renovatio

Forms

renovātiō f (genitive renovātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin renovō (“to renew”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists renovō (from Accius on) among the derivatives of novus (“new”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *nowo- and Proto-Indo-European *neuo- (“new, young”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[5] who speaks of the renewal of the world in De natura deorum and, in a letter to Atticus, of interest added to the principal each year, compound interest.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose it is used by Cicero, Livy and Pliny the Elder, and above all by Christian writers; it has no plural.^[3] Cicero speaks of a renewal of fear and of learning,^[7][8] Livy of a renewal of the auspices,^[7] and Pliny of animals renewing their shells.^[7][8] The rhetorician Sulpicius Victor uses it for a summarising repetition, the Greek ἀνακεφαλαίωσις (anakephalaíōsis).^[7] In the Vulgate it is the spiritual renewal of the Holy Spirit,^[6] and Marius Mercator distinguishes it from innovātiō.^[3] Medieval British Latin used it for the restoration of buildings and for spiritual renewal and salvation.^[9] English renovation, first a theological word for spiritual rebirth, comes from it, partly through Old French renovacion.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the renewal of the world and of compound interest.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy speaks of a renewal of the auspices.^[7][5]
• AD 23/24–79 – Pliny the Elder uses it of animals renewing their shells.^[7][8][5]
• AD 390–406 – The Vulgate uses it for spiritual renewal.^[6][5]
• c. 1400 – English renovation appears, first in theology.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of renewing, renewal.^[2][6][7]
2. (finance) The adding of interest to the principal, compound interest.^[2][6]
3. (rhetoric) A summarising repetition, recapitulation.^[7]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Spiritual renewal, renovation.^[6][11][9]
5. (Medieval Latin) restoration or repair of a building.^[9]

Related words

• novātiō
• innovātiō
• English renovation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson