Etymologically
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sollertia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɔlˈlɛr.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [solˈlɛr.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

sollertia f (genitive sollertiae); first declension[1] It is also spelled sōlertia.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin sollers (“clever, skilled”) + -ia.[2][1] De Vaan derives sollers from Proto-Italic *soll-arti-, a compound of sollus (“whole”) and ars (“skill”): wholly skilled.[4] sollus goes back to Proto-Italic *solno- (“whole”), compare Oscan sullus (“all”), and ars to Proto-Indo-European *h₂r-tí- (“the fitting”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Cicero,[5] who says that some animals have a kind of contrivance and cleverness, and that no art can imitate the skill of nature.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means resourcefulness, cleverness or skill in contriving: Cicero credits the Chaldeans with keenness of mind, and Caesar calls the Gauls a people of the greatest ingenuity.[3][2] With a genitive it is adroitness in doing something, as Cicero's skill in judging.[3] It can also be an ingenious plan, as in Tacitus, and in Cicero's De officiis a sharp subtlety that should be avoided.[3] Church Latin glosses it cleverness, ingenuity and skill.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the cleverness of animals and of nature.[3][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of the ingenuity of the Gauls.[3][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of an ingenious plan.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Cleverness, ingenuity, skill, resourcefulness.[2][3][6][1]
  2. Dexterity, adroitness in doing something.[3][1]
  3. An ingenious plan; subtlety.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson