salutaris

Forms

salūtāris (neuter salūtāre); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from salūs (“safety, health”) with the suffix -āris.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains ⟨salūs⟩, like salvus (“safe, whole”), from Proto-Italic *salu- (“whole, healthy”), from Proto-Indo-European *slH-u- (“whole”), though the details of the forms are uncertain.^[4] Cognate with Oscan salavs (“whole”), Sanskrit सर्व (sárva-, “whole, all”) and Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Cicero as its first author,^[3] but the OLD's first example is Plautus' Aulularia, a wish “which may be for your lasting good”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is what promotes safety or well-being, salutary, in the widest sense, while salūbris is mostly “healthy” in the medical sense.^[2][5] It is also wholesome or curative, as Horace's god who relieves tired limbs “with healing art”, and a cult title of gods for their saving power, as Cicero's Jupiter Salūtāris.^[2] Burial clubs called themselves collēgium salūtāre, digitus salūtāris is the index finger (Suetonius); and Collis Salūtāris was a spur of the Quirinal with a temple of the goddess Salus (Varro).^[2]

In Christian Latin it is what brings eternal salvation, the masculine noun Salūtāris is the Saviour, and the neuter salūtāre is salvation or redemption.^[6][1][7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of what promotes well-being.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of Jupiter Salūtāris.^[2][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of healing art.^[2][3]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of the index finger.^[2][3]
• late 15th century – Borrowed into English, partly by way of French, as salutary.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Promoting safety or well-being, salutary, beneficial, advantageous.^[2][1][5]
2. Wholesome, healthful, curative; a cult title of saving gods.^[2][1]
3. digitus salūtāris, the index finger.^[2][1]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Bringing eternal salvation, saving.^[6][1][7]

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin, masculine) The Saviour.^[6]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin, neuter salūtāre) Salvation, redemption.^[6]

Related words

• salūs
• salvus
• salūbris
• English salutary

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes salūs, existence and safety as opposed to destruction, from sānitās, the health of the person.^[9]

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper