sodalitas

Forms

sodālitās f (genitive sodālitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sodālis (“companion”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains that noun as Proto-Italic *sweþāli-, an Italic derivative of a stem from Proto-Indo-European *sue-dhh1- (“custom, to get accustomed”), the combination also found in suēscō (“to become accustomed”); he also mentions an alternative connection with Ancient Greek ἴδιος (ídios, “own, private”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[3][4] of a group of companions: nunc ego de sodalitate solus sum orator datus, “now I alone of the company have been sent as spokesman”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main classical sense is close association or intimate friendship, in political and social life: the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero use it so, and Tacitus traces Nero's hatred of Vestinus to their intimate friendship.^[2][6] Gellius uses the plural of companionships one is drawn away from.^[5][7]

It also named an association: a religious brotherhood, as Cicero calls the Luperci “a wild and quite pastoral brotherhood”, and dining clubs, which the speaker of Cicero's De senectute recalls being founded for the Idaean rites in his quaestorship.^[5][7][2] In a bad sense it was a secret electioneering gang: Cicero and his brother Quintus use it so, and Cicero reports a decree of the senate ordering the sodalitates to disband.^[2][5][7]

In medieval Latin it meant companionship and a company, such as the company of the angels in Aldhelm.^[8] Stelten gives “confraternity” and “guild”.^[9] English sodality comes from it, directly or through French.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a group of companions.^[2][5][3]
• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of close association.^[2][6][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the Luperci, of dining clubs and of electioneering gangs.^[2][5][3]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of an intimate friendship.^[5][6][3]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of the company of the angels.^[8][3]
• c. 1600 – English borrows sodality.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Close association, fellowship, intimate friendship.^[2][5]
2. An association, group; a religious fraternity; a dining club.^[2][5][7]
3. A secret electioneering gang (= sodalicium).^[2][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A company; a confraternity, guild.^[8][9]

Word family

• archisodālitās

Related words

• English sodality

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 k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com