Etymologically
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sagacitas

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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]

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