sedulitas

Forms

sēdulitās f (genitive sēdulitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēdulus (“attentive, busy”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] De Vaan follows Meiser in deriving the adverb sēdulō “sincerely, diligently” from ⟨*sē dolōd⟩ “without guile”, with dolus (“guile”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro, Köbler from Cicero;^[4][3] in Cicero's letters Caelius praises Cornelius Balbus' work and assiduity.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is painstaking attention to a task, application, assiduity, zeal;^[2][5] Lewis & Short call it classical, with the synonym dīligentia.^[2][5] Döderlein describes it as the tireless bustling of a busy housewife, a kind nurse or one who pays officious court, against the loftier industria;^[6] Columella speaks of a matron's housewifely diligence.^[6] Church Latin glosses it watchfulness.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro.^[4][3]
• 81–43 BC – Caelius in Cicero's letters.^[5]
• 1st century AD – Columella of a matron's diligence.^[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Painstaking attention, application, assiduity, zeal; officiousness.^[2][5][1][6]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Watchfulness.^[7]

Related words

• sēdulus
• dolus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson