Etymologically
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status

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈsta.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈstaː.tus][1]

Forms

status m (genitive statūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is a noun of action from stō “to stand”, inherited from Proto-Italic *statu- (“setting up”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sth₂tu- (“placement”).[2][3][1]

Cognate with Proto-Slavic *statъ (“wealth”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,[2][4] who has someone mock another's way of standing, “like a king”.[5]

Semantic evolution

It first meant the way of standing, posture or position, as in Plautus and Cicero, and then stature, the position of the stars, and in rhetoric the point at issue in a case, as Quintilian explains.[3][5] From this it meant condition: the physical state of a body, the circumstances of a person, and the state of affairs, as Cicero's “this state of things everyone groans at”.[3]

It meant the constitution of a state, as Cicero's optimus civitatis status, a person's rank or standing, and in law one's legal position.[3] Quintilian used it for the grammatical mood.[3] In Medieval Latin it also meant a choir stall, a market stall and a legal status of persons, and New Latin used it for a political state.[4][1] English state (c. 1200) and estate came from it through Old French, and status was borrowed directly in the 1670s.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a way of standing.[5][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the state of affairs and of the constitution.[3][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it in rhetoric and grammar.[3][4]
  • c. 1200 – English state is recorded.[6]
  • 1670s – English status is borrowed.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A standing position, posture.[3][1]
  2. Stature.[3]
  3. A position (of a person or thing).[3][1]
  4. (rhetoric) The point at issue.[3]
  5. A physical state, condition.[3][1]
  6. Circumstances, situation; a state of affairs.[3][1]
  7. The constitution (of a state).[3]
  8. Rank, standing.[3][1]
  9. (law) Legal position, status.[3][1]
  10. (grammar) Mood.[3]
  11. (New Latin) A state (political unit).[1]

Word family

  • statārius
  • staticulum
  • staticulus
  • statūlīber
  • statūlībertās
  • statuō

Usage notes

The adjective status, “fixed, regular”, is the participle of sistō, as in Cicero's statum sacrificium, a sacrifice held at a fixed time.[3][7] Döderlein distinguishes conditio, a state set by will, from status, a state arising from circumstances.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper