subsistentia

Forms

subsistentia f (genitive subsistentiae); first declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin subsistō (“to stand still or firm”) + -entia.^[3][4] It renders Ancient Greek ὑπόστασις (hupóstasis) and is a loan translation of it.^[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Boethius,^[3] in his treatise on the two natures, meaning substance or reality.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

In the theology and philosophy of the 6th century it meant substance, reality,^[1][2] and Cassiodorus uses it in his church history.^[1][5] Medieval Latin added existence and, in theology, the hypostasis or person,^[6] and also stability or firmness.^[7][8] In Thomas Aquinas it is both existence and the mode of being of what exists in itself and not in another.^[9] English subsistence comes from it.^[4]

Timeline

• first quarter of the 6th century AD – Boethius uses it for substance.^[3][1]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it in his church history.^[1][3]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as subsistence, “real being”.^[4]
• 1431 – A bull of Pope Eugene IV uses it for stability, firmness.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) substance, reality.^[1][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) existence, continued existence.^[6][8]
3. (Medieval Latin, theology) hypostasis.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Stability, firmness, the condition of standing firm.^[7][8]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Means of subsisting.^[10]

Related words

• English subsistence

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson