Etymologically
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sanitas

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈsaː.nɪ.taːs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsaː.ni.tas][1]

Forms

sānitās f (genitive sānitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sānus (“healthy, sane”) + -tās.[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs ⟨sānus⟩ as Proto-Italic *sāno-, mechanically Proto-Indo-European *seh₂-no-, and suggests it may be from a root “to tie” (“in place, in order”) or from the root “to satisfy” of satis.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Plautus, of health.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant healthy condition, health of body; from Cicero soundness of mind, sanity, good sense, as in ad sānitātem redīre “to come to one's senses”; and in rhetoric the soundness of a style free of faults.[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means soundness, health, sanity, and Medieval Latin used it for a miraculous cure.[6][7] English sanity (early 15th century, first “health”) is from it, and it survives as French santé, Italian sanità and Romanian sănătate.[8][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of health.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of soundness of mind and of style.[2][4]
  • early 15th century – English sanity is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Health, soundness of body.[2][9]
  2. Sanity, good sense.[2]
  3. (rhetoric) Soundness of style.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A miraculous cure.[7]

Word family

  • *sānitōsus

Usage notes

Isidore of Seville explained sānitās as the wholeness of the body, named “as if from the state of the blood” (sanguis).[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).