Etymologically
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sublimitas

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊbˈliː.mɪ.taːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [subˈliː.mi.tas][1]

Forms

sublīmitās f (genitive sublīmitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sublīmis (“high, lofty”) + -tās.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan.[4] Its first authors in the OLD are of the 1st century AD: Columella, of the height of a building to be divided into storeys, and Seneca, of an elevated state of mind.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is height, of a building, a body (Quintilian), gourds or the moon (Pliny the Elder).[2][4] Figuratively it meant loftiness of mind or character: Pliny the Elder praises the incomparable magnanimity Caesar showed in burning Pompey's correspondence unread.[2][4] Quintilian and Pliny the Younger use it of loftiness of style, as of heroic verse and of Plato.[2][4]

Christian writers used it for God, as Cyprian does, and it became an honorific title, “your Sublimity”, in Cassiodorus.[5][6] In medieval Latin it also meant spiritual height and exalted rank.[7] Stelten gives “high station”.[8] English sublimity comes from it.[9]

Timeline

  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of the height of a building.[2][3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of an elevated state of mind.[2][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of Caesar's magnanimity.[2][3]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of loftiness of style.[2][3]
  • beginning of 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian uses it of God.[5][3]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it as an honorific title.[5][3]
  • early 15th century – English borrows sublimity.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Height, elevation; a high place.[2][4]
  2. An elevated state of mind; loftiness of character, magnanimity.[2][4]
  3. Loftiness of style, grandeur, sublimity.[2][4]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) God, the Most High.[5]
  5. (Late Latin) An honorific title (vestra sublimitas).[5][6]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Exalted rank.[7][8]
  • English sublimity

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b 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
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com