sagacitas

Forms

sagācitās f (genitive sagācitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sagāx (“keen-scented, perceptive”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces sagāx to Proto-Italic *sag-āk- (“perceptive”), beside sāgiō (“to perceive”), praesāgiō (“to foresee”) and sāgus (“prophetic”), and connects the group with words from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek, track”).^[4] Cognate with Old Irish saigid (“to try to reach”), Hittite šāgāi- (“omen”), Ancient Greek ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to direct, lead”) and English seek.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[5] who uses it of the keen scent of dogs, sagācitāte canum ad ūtilitātem nostram abūtimur, “we make use of the keen scent of dogs for our benefit”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is a keen sense of smell, above all in dogs,^[2][3] as in Cicero and Pliny the Elder;^[3][7] Seneca extends it to the keenness of the senses in general.^[2][3] Already in Cicero it also means mental acuteness or shrewdness:^[2][3] in the Verrines he speaks of a remarkable flair for discovering ornaments,^[2] and Nepos says of a man that he was too shrewd to be deceived.^[3] Lewis & Short give sollertia and acūmen as synonyms.^[3] Medieval writers in Britain kept both senses and also used it for eagerness or zeal, as in Aldhelm.^[8] English took sagacity about 1500, through French.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the scent of dogs and of shrewdness.^[2][5]
• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses it of a man too shrewd to be deceived.^[3][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca applies it to the senses in general.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of dogs and of Hipparchus' discovery about eclipses of the moon.^[3][5]
• Medieval Latin – Aldhelm uses it of zeal for reading.^[8]
• c. 1500 – Borrowed into English as sagacity, through French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Keenness of scent, especially of dogs; keenness of the senses in general.^[2][3][10]
2. Acuteness of mind, shrewdness, sagacity, flair.^[2][3][11]
3. (Medieval Latin) Keenness, eagerness for something, zeal.^[8]

Related words

• sagāx
• sāgiō
• sāgus
• praesāgiō
• English sagacity

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson