solitas

Forms

sōlitās f (genitive sōlitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sōlus (“alone”) + -tās.^[2][1] The origin of sōlus itself is uncertain.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is from the tragedian Accius, in a line about remembering someone's loneliness and fearing for them: tuam solitatem memorans, formidans tibi.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the state of being on one's own, and in particular the state of having no friends.^[2] Lewis and Short call it ante- and post-classical, used instead of sōlitūdō:^[4] after Accius it reappears in Apuleius and Tertullian.^[4]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of a person's loneliness.^[2][4][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it in the Metamorphoses and the Apology.^[4][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being alone, solitude.^[2][4]
2. Having no friends, loneliness.^[2]

Related words

• sōlitūdō

Usage notes

Classical prose used sōlitūdō for “solitude”;^[4][1] sōlitās belongs to early and late Latin.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de