Etymologically
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transparentia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [trãː.spaːˈrɛn.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [tran.spaˈrɛn.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

trānspārentia f (genitive trānspārentiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin trānspārēns + -ia, the present participle of trānspāreō (“to shine through”) with the abstract-noun suffix.[2][1] Köbler likewise derives it from the verb.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a word of Medieval Latin,[1][3] used in scholastic writing on light and vision for the quality of being see-through: the DMLBS quotes it from Gilbert, Thomas Docking (who lists it among the properties of the air) and Roger Bacon's Perspectiva, where bodies are not perceived through the transparency of the media between them.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the one sense, transparency, in medieval optics and natural philosophy.[2][1] It passed into the Romance languages and into German as a learned borrowing: Italian trasparenza, French transparence, Spanish transparencia, German Transparenz.[1][3] English took transparency from it in the early 17th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 1590s – English transparency is first recorded, meaning “that which is transparent”.[4]
  • 1610s – English transparency, from the Medieval Latin word, is used for the condition of letting light through.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) transparency, the quality of letting light pass through.[2][1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com