theologia

Forms

theologia f (genitive theologiae); first declension^[1] Augustine has the Greek accusative theologiān.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek θεολογία (theología, “an account of the gods”),^[3][1][4] from θεολόγος (theológos, “one who discourses on the gods”), formed from θεός (theós, “god”) and -λογία (-logía).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro, as Augustine quotes him in the City of God, uses it for a system of teaching about the gods.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Christian writers made it the word for theology, the teaching about God.^[7][6] In Medieval Latin it was the divine science,^[8] and it could also mean the word of God and Holy Scripture, applied especially to the Apocalypse.^[9] Thomas Aquinas equates it with scientia divina and explains it as “speech about God”.^[10]

English took the word in the late 14th century, from Old French and directly from Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the teaching about the gods, as quoted by Augustine.^[5][6][11]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine discusses it in the City of God.^[2][12][11]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as theology.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A system of teaching about the gods.^[3][2]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Theology.^[7][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) The divine science; the word of God, Holy Scripture.^[8][9]

Related words

• theologus
• theologicus
• English theology

Usage notes

As a place name, Theologia is the Latin name of Tholey, with its monastery, in the Rhineland.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b 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. ^ 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
10. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
12. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
13. ^ Graesse, J. G. Th., Friedrich Benedict, and Ernst Plechl (1909), Orbis Latinus: Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen, 2nd ed., Berlin: R. C. Schmidt