tyrannis

Forms

tyrannis f (genitive tyrannidis); third declension^[1] Besides tyrannidem the accusative has the Greek form tyrannida, and the genitive also tyrannidos.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τυραννίς (turannís, “absolute rule, tyranny”),^[2][5][1] and Köbler refers it to tyrannus.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,^[6] of the position or rule of a tyrant in the Greek sense: in the De inventione he speaks of a man who had seized the tyranny among the people of Pherae in Thessaly.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is the rule of a Greek-style tyrant, as in Nepos, Livy and Ovid,^[2] and Livy uses it once of the territory a tyrant rules.^[2][4] It was also applied to any cruel and oppressive regime: in a letter Cicero writes vīvit tyrannis, tyrannus occidit, “the tyranny lives, the tyrant has fallen”,^[3] and Sallust and Juvenal speak of the tyranny of Sulla and of Nero.^[2] In the Historia Augusta it means a female ruler.^[3][4][6]

Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the sense “tyranny”.^[7] Medieval writers in Britain use it of a tyrant's rule, also figuratively, and of a single tyrannical act.^[8] Italian tirannide continues the word.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the rule of a tyrant.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the territory ruled by a tyrant.^[2][6]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust speaks of the tyranny of Sulla.^[2][6]
• 4th/5th century AD – The Historia Augusta uses it of a female ruler.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The position or rule of a tyrant, absolute rule.^[2][3]
2. The territory ruled by a tyrant.^[2][4]
3. (transferred) Any cruel and oppressive regime, tyranny.^[2][3]
4. (Late Latin) A female ruler.^[3][4]
5. (Medieval Latin) A tyrannical act.^[8]

Related words

• tyrannicē
• tyrannicus
• tyrannus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier