Etymologically
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substantia

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [sʊpˈstan.ti.a], [sʊpˈstan.ti.aː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [subˈstan.t͡si.a], [subˈstan.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

substantia f (genitive substantiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from substō “to stand under, be present”, through the stem of its participle ⟨substāns⟩, with the suffix -ia.[2][1][3] Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek ὑπόκειμαι (hupókeimai, “to lie under”).[1] Frontinus has an ablative ⟨substantiē⟩.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Seneca, of real existence and of essential nature.[2] Köbler's first source is Tacitus; he dates Seneca 4 BC–65 AD and Tacitus 98–115 AD.[4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan.[3] It meant the quality of being real, actual existence, and in Quintilian the reality of a thing as opposed to its appearance.[2][5] It meant underlying nature, essence, what makes a thing what it is, as in Seneca and Quintilian's substantia rhētoricae.[2][3] In the jurist Gaius it meant the material of which a thing is made, and the sum of one's possessions, one's property.[2] Isidore uses it for the first of Aristotle's categories, that which is neither said of a subject nor in a subject, as a particular man or horse.[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant substance, nature, essence, being, existence, property.[7] Medieval Latin used it of food supplies, a stock of goods, wealth and a manorial holding, and British Medieval Latin of God as the supreme being.[8][9] English substance came about 1300 through Old French, first of the divine essence common to the persons of the Trinity.[10]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of real existence and essence.[2][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the reality of a thing.[2][4]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of material and of property.[2][4]
  • c. 1300 – English substance is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Real existence; the reality of a thing.[2]
  2. Essential nature, essence.[2]
  3. The material of a thing.[2]
  4. Possessions, property.[2]
  5. A basic unit of measurement.[2]
  6. (philosophy) Substance, the first of the categories.[6]
  7. (Medieval Latin) Supplies; a stock of goods; a manorial holding.[8]

Word family

  • substantiālis
  • substantiola
  • substantīvus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com