saeculum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈsae̯.kʊ.ɫũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsɛː.ku.lum]^[1]

Forms

saeculum n (genitive saeculī); second declension^[1] Also saeclum, especially in Lucretius, and sēculum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sai-tlo-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂i-tlo- (“lifespan”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *seh₂i- (“to bind”).^[4][5] Cognate with Welsh hoedl (“lifespan”) and Breton hoal (“age”), from Proto-Celtic *saitlo-, and with Hittite išḫai- (“to bind”) and Sanskrit स्यति (syáti, “binds”).^[4][2] saeta “bristle” is from the same root.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it.^[4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a generation, people born at one time, and a breed or race, as Lucretius' races of living things.^[2][7] It was the present age, as Cicero's stain of this age, a human lifetime, the span of about 33 years, and a century, as the extreme limit of life.^[2][7] It was one of the ages of history, golden or silver, and in the plural future ages, as in Catullus, and per saecula “for ever”.^[2]

In Christian Latin it was this world that will end, and the present life.^[8][1] Through saeculāris it gave English secular, first of clergy living in the world.^[5] It survives as Italian secolo and French siècle.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[4][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses saeclum of races of living things.^[7][6]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of future ages.^[2][6]
• c. 1300 – English secular is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A generation; a breed, race.^[2][1]
2. The present age, the times.^[2][1]
3. A lifetime.^[2]
4. A century.^[2][1]
5. An age (of history), (plural) posterity, per saecula, for ever.^[2]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The world, worldly life.^[8][1]

Word family

• saeculāris
• trisaeclisenex

Related words

• saeta
• English secular

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill