Etymologically
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saevitia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sae̯ˈwɪ.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [seˈvit.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

saevitia f (genitive saevitiae); first declension[1] Apuleius has a fifth-declension accusative saevitiem.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin saevus (“fierce, savage”) + -itia.[3][1] De Vaan traces the adjective to Proto-Italic *saiwo- (“savage”) and Proto-Indo-European *seh₂i-uo-, cognate with Old Irish sáeth (“sorrow”), Hittite šāi- (“to become sullen, angry”), Ancient Greek αἰανής (aianḗs, “grievous”) and Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍂 (sair, “pain”); he suggests that the root “to rage, be in pain” may be the same as one meaning “to tie”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence, Eunuchus, has it of savage conduct.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Saevitia is savagery of character or conduct, barbarity and cruelty, and in wild beasts ferocity (Quintilian: as birds are born to fly and horses to run, so beasts to savagery).[3][2] It is also the violence of storms and weather (Sallust: the saevitia of the season), the severity of diseases (Columella), the force of passions (Seneca: reason checks the savagery of fears), and the harshness of circumstances (Valerius Maximus).[3]

Döderlein contrasts saevitia, the bloodthirsty cruelty of a tyrant who acts like a beast of prey, the opposite of mānsuētūdō, with crūdēlitās, the reckless cruelty of a judge who enforces the law to the utmost, the opposite of clēmentia.[6] Church Latin glosses it “fury, ferocity, harshness, cruelty, fierceness, severity”.[7]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence, its first recorded use.[3][4][5]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of the savagery of the season.[3][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of the violence of fears.[3][5]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of wild beasts.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Savagery, cruelty, barbarity;[3][1][7] (of animals) ferocity.[3][1][7]
  2. Violence (of storms, the sea, diseases).[3][1]
  3. Violence, intensity (of passions); rage, fury.[3][1][7]
  4. Harshness, severity (of circumstances).[3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c 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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson