tenuitas

Forms

tenuitās f (genitive tenuitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tenuis (“thin”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives ⟨tenuis⟩ from Proto-Italic *tn̥(a)u- and Proto-Indo-European *tnh₂-(e)u- (“thin”), an old ⟨u⟩-stem adjective remade as an ⟨i⟩-stem; he thinks the root may be an extended form of *ten- (“to stretch”), though this cannot be proved.^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit तनु (tanú-, “thin, slender”), Ancient Greek ταναός (tanaós, “thin, elongated”), Old Irish tanae (“delicate, thin”) and Old High German dunni (“thin”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato,^[4][3] whose speeches use it of poverty, together with low birth.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant thinness of many kinds:^[2][6] Phaedrus writes of legs that are too thin, Vitruvius writes of plaster too thin to stand by itself, Cicero of people who like slimness, and Pliny the Elder of the fine mesh of a sieve.^[2] Of air and sound it meant rarity or thinness, as in Cicero's thinness of the sky and Vitruvius' high-pitched sounds of the voice.^[2] Cicero also uses it of the subtle nature of the soul.^[6][5]

It meant scarcity, and especially lack of means, poverty or frugality: Cicero has the abundance or scarcity of crops, the poverty of the treasury, and the frugal living of Manius Curius.^[2][5] In criticism it meant subtlety of thought and a plain, unadorned style, as in Cicero's praise of Lysias.^[2][5] British medieval writers used it of the thinness of horn, fabric and feathers.^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of poverty.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of slimness, of subtlety and of a plain style.^[2][3]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of thin plaster.^[2][3]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of thin legs.^[2][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the fine mesh of a sieve.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Thinness, slenderness, fineness; leanness.^[2][6]
2. Rarefied quality (of air); thinness (of sound).^[2]
3. Scarcity; lack of means, poverty; frugality.^[2][5]
4. Fineness of distinction, subtlety.^[2][5]
5. Plainness, simplicity (of style).^[2][5]

Related words

• tenuis
• tenuō
• attenuō
• extenuō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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