tarditas

Forms

tarditās f (genitive tarditātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tardus (“slow”) + -tās.^[2][1] De Vaan finds no etymology for tardus: he calls Walde and Hofmann's comparison with Ancient Greek τέρυ (téru, “weak”) and Sanskrit तरुण (táruṇa-, “young, fresh”) unconvincing in meaning and impossible in form.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero, who speaks of slowness of the feet.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is slowness of movement or action: Cicero says that the opposite of speed is slowness, not weakness.^[5] It is also delay, as when Cicero explains that fear made him slow to act.^[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of hardness of hearing, and Cicero of dullness of mind.^[2] Lewis & Short call it classical;^[5][6] Church Latin glosses it slowness, tardiness.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of slow feet, delay and dullness.^[2][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of hardness of hearing.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Slowness, tardiness.^[2][5][6][1]
2. Delay, procrastination.^[2]
3. Hardness of hearing.^[2]
4. Dullness of mind.^[2]

Related words

• tardus

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson