segnitia

Forms

sēgnitia f (genitive sēgnitiae); first declension^[1] A fifth-declension form sēgnitiēs, -ēī is less frequent.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēgnis (“slow, sluggish”) + -itia.^[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sēk/g-ni- for the adjective, an adjective in ⟨*-ni-⟩ like lēnis; its root may be that of Ancient Greek ἦκα (êka, “slightly, softly”), but the connection is uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] The OLD's first quotation is Terence's there is no room for sloth or idleness.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is disinclination to act or exert oneself, sloth, slowness or dilatoriness: Tacitus writes that what was sloth was called wisdom.^[2][3] Seneca uses it of physical inertia, a nerveless sluggishness and weariness without toil, and a declamation of the weakness of an expression.^[2] Döderlein counts it, with dēsidia, socordia and pigritia, among the faults of too easy a temper: sēgnitia needs rousing or compulsion before it gives up its ease, and is the opposite of promptus.^[5] Church Latin glosses it slowness or sluggishness.^[6]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of no room for sloth.^[2][3][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the word.^[7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of physical sluggishness.^[2][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of sloth called wisdom.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Disinclination to act, sloth, inertia, dilatoriness.^[2][3][1][6]
2. Physical sluggishness; feebleness (of an expression).^[2]

Word family

• sēgnitiēs

Related words

• sēgnis
• dēsidia
• sōcordia
• pigritia

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de