sanctitas

Forms

sānctitās f (genitive sānctitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sānctus (“sacred, holy”) + -tās.^[2][3][1][4] The adjective is the participle of sanciō (“to make sacred, ratify”), which Wiktionary traces to Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- through a nasal present.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who in the Pro Sestio speaks of a man relying on the sacrosanctity of the tribunate.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is the state of being protected by religious sanction, inviolability, as of the tribunate, of kings in Caesar's words reported by Suetonius, or of a temple and island in Livy.^[2][3] It also means the observance of religious duties, as Cicero's “all the sanctities and religious obligations of gods and men”.^[2] Most often it is moral purity, virtue or integrity, as the purity Cicero says the name of a matron demands, and Quintilian applies it to purity of style.^[2]

In medieval Latin sanctitas tua was a title of honour for bishops.^[6] English borrowed sanctity through Old French in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the sacrosanctity of the tribunate and of a matron's purity.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the sanctity of a temple.^[3][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of purity of style.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as sanctity.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Inviolability, sacredness, sanctity.^[2][3][1]
2. Observance of religious duties.^[2]
3. Moral purity, virtue, probity; holiness, chastity; of style, purity.^[2][3][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) sanctitas tua: a title of honour for a bishop.^[6]

Related words

• sānctus
• sanciō
• English sanctity

References

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