taciturnitas

Forms

taciturnitās f (genitive taciturnitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin taciturnus (“silent, taciturn”) + -tās.^[2][1] taciturnus is formed from taceō (“to be silent”),^[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *tak-ē- (“to be silent”) and Proto-Indo-European *tHk-eh₁- (“to be silent”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] In Terence's Andria what is needed is fide et taciturnitate, “loyalty and silence”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the keeping of silence about something, and also a failure to write or send word.^[2] Cicero speaks of the silence of witnesses and of the senate house, and of a man's slowness and reserve.^[5] Horace has the silence of poets that would rob Romulus of his fame.^[5] Georges separates plain silence from discretion as a virtue.^[6] In British medieval Latin it is the silence of monastic life, as in Bede and Alcuin, and also an inability or refusal to speak.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the noun.^[4][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence, of keeping a secret.^[5][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the silence of witnesses and of the senate.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A keeping silent, silence about something.^[2][5][1][8]
2. Discretion, reserve, taciturnity.^[6][5]
3. Failure to communicate by letter or otherwise.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) Inability or unwillingness to speak.^[7]

Related words

• taceō
• taciturnus
• tacitus
• reticentia

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson