senatus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [sɛˈnaː.tʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [seˈnaː.tus]^[1]

Forms

senātus m (genitive senātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from senex “old man” with the suffix -ātus, literally “council of elders”.^[2][1][3] Senex goes back to Proto-Italic *seno- (“old”), Proto-Indo-European *sen-o- (“old”).^[4] Isidore of Seville derived senātūscōnsultum from cōnsulō.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who has the old genitive senātī.^[4][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant the permanent political assembly at Rome, the senate, first advisory, later with judicial and legislative powers, as in the formula senātus populusque Rōmānus, and a meeting of the senate, as Cicero's day when no senate met.^[2][7] Its genitive was often senātī or senātuos in older Latin and in Cicero and Sallust.^[2] The Appendix Probi corrects sinatus to senātus.^[8]

In Medieval Latin it meant a municipal council, a royal or princely council, the papal curia, and in England the witenagemot.^[9][10] English senate is recorded about 1200, of the Roman body.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a sitting.^[2][6]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses the genitive senātī.^[2][6]
• c. 1200 – English senate is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The senate (of Rome).^[2]
2. A meeting of the senate.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A council; the papal curia.^[9][10]

Word family

• senātūscōnsultum
• senāculum

Related words

• senātor
• senātōrius
• senātrīx
• senex
• English senate

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press