subdivisio

Forms

subdīvīsiō f (genitive subdīvīsiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sub- + dīvīsiō.^[2] Lewis and Short and Georges connect it with the verb subdīvidō.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD cites it from the jurist Maecianus, for a further division under a main division.^[2] Among dated authors, Jerome uses it in his letters.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it post-classical.^[3] It occurs in the Code of Justinian and in Boethius' arithmetic, in the plural.^[3][4] In medieval Latin it kept the sense of a division of something already divided, used by logicians and in legal and administrative texts: Robert Grosseteste writes in 1239 of species that admit no further subdivision.^[6] Modern biology uses subdivisio for a taxonomic rank below the division.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it in his letters.^[3][4][5]
• 500–524 AD – Boethius has the plural in his arithmetic.^[4]
• 1239 – Robert Grosseteste writes of species that admit no further subdivision.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A subdivision, a further division of a part already divided.^[2][3][6]
2. (New Latin, taxonomy) A rank below the division (divisio), equivalent to a subphylum.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ 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