saecularis

Forms

saeculāris (neuter saeculāre); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] It is also spelled saeclāris; manuscripts often have sēcl-.^[2] The spelling sēculāris is common in later texts.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin saeculum (“generation, age, century”) + -āris.^[2][5] De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Indo-European *seh₂i-tlo- (“lifespan”), from a root meaning “to bind”.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Horace (65–8 BC).^[5] It belonged to the lūdī saeculārēs, games held at Rome to mark the end of one saeculum and the start of the next (perhaps first in 348 BC), and to the carmen saeculāre, the hymn sung at them: Suetonius reports that Augustus thought so well of Horace's writings that he commissioned such a hymn from him.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Augustus' own record of his deeds names the games he held with Agrippa, and an inscription speaks of sacrifices and games recurring every hundred and ten years.^[2] Used as nouns, saeculārēs (understand lūdī) and saeculāria (understand sacra) mean these games.^[3]

Ecclesiastical writers used it as Greek writers used their word for “of this world”,^[7] and it came to mean worldly, temporal, profane, and also pagan: Tertullian applies it to pagan examples and women, Jerome contrasts hominēs saeculārēs with monks, and Sidonius speaks of secular history.^[3][4] Commodian uses saeculāria for worldly matters, and Cyprian has the adverb saeculāriter, “in a worldly way”.^[3] In Medieval Latin it was set against the Church: secular as opposed to ecclesiastical, and, of clergy, secular as opposed to regular; as a noun it meant a layman or a member of the secular clergy.^[8][5] British writers also used it for the temporal world as against eternity.^[9] English secular comes from it, partly through Old French.^[7]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace; the carmen saeculāre is sung at the Secular Games.^[5][2]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius tells how Augustus commissioned the hymn from Horace.^[2][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for pagan, worldly examples.^[3][4][5]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome sets saeculārēs against monks.^[3][4][5]
• c. 510–570 AD – Gildas speaks of the tales of worldly men.^[9][5]
• c. 1300 – English borrows it as secular, first of clergy living in the world.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a saeculum: lūdī saeculārēs, the Secular Games;^[2][3] carmen saeculāre, the hymn sung at them.^[2][3]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) worldly, temporal, profane; pagan, heathen.^[3][4][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) secular, not ecclesiastical;^[8][9] (of clergy) secular as opposed to regular.^[8][9]

Noun

1. (plural) saeculārēs, saeculāria: the Secular Games.^[3]
2. (Late Latin, neuter plural) Worldly matters.^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A layman; a member of the secular clergy.^[8][5]

Word family

• saeculāriter

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson