severitas

Forms

sevēritās f (genitive sevēritātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sevērus (“stern, serious”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] The origin of sevērus is disputed: Walde and Hofmann and Meiser explained it from ⟨*swe-⟩ “apart” and the root of vērus (“true”), which de Vaan finds hard to accept for the meaning; he prefers Nussbaum's Proto-Italic *seχwēro- (“steadfast”), from a noun built on Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Terence,^[4] who has trīstis sevēritās inest in vultū, “there is a grim sternness in his face”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Sevēritās is strict, uncompromising conduct towards offenders, sternness, severity, in a good and a bad sense (Cicero, the Bellum Alexandrinum, Livy).^[2][5] It is also strictness of morals, austerity, self-discipline, gravity and seriousness of manner (Cicero: he turned the hearers from seriousness to laughter), and of style, sobriety (the Rhetorica ad Herennium).^[2]

Döderlein says that sevēritās is earnestness seated in the mind, gravitās earnestness as it impresses others.^[6] Church Latin glosses it “severity, sternness, gravity, seriousness”.^[7] English severity (late 15th century) comes from it through French.^[3]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence: trīstis sevēritās inest in vultū.^[2][4][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a stern judgement.^[2][8]
• late 15th century – English severity.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sternness, strictness, severity.^[2][5][1][7]
2. Strictness of morals, austerity.^[2]
3. Gravity, seriousness.^[2][5][1][7]
4. (of style) Sobriety, austerity.^[2]

Related words

• sevērus
• gravitās
• English severity

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de