varietas

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [waˈri.ɛ.taːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [vaˈriː.e.tas]^[1]

Forms

varietās f (genitive varietātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin varius (“varied, many-coloured”) + -tās.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first use to Pacuvius, 220–130 BC.^[3] Cicero defines it as a Latin word used properly of different colours and then carried over to many different things.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was variety of colour, as of flowers in Cicero or skins in Caesar.^[2][5] It then meant variety of forms and elements, as Varro's delight in variety of clothing, and diversity of kinds, as in many different lawsuits.^[2] It also meant changeableness or vicissitude, of fortune or a war, and difference of opinion.^[2][6]

In medieval Latin it could mean an illness and a quarrel, and in British sources variety of decoration and a squirrel fur.^[7][8][3] English variety is recorded in the 1540s.^[9]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it.^[3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of delight in variety of clothing.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero defines the word.^[2][3]
• 1432 – British Latin uses it of a squirrel fur.^[3]
• 1540s – English variety is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Variety of colours.^[2][5]
2. variety, diversity of forms or elements.^[2][4]
3. Difference, diversity of kinds.^[2]
4. Changeableness, inconstancy, vicissitude.^[2][6]
5. Difference of opinion.^[2]
6. (Medieval Latin) Illness; a quarrel.^[7]

Related words

• varius
• English variety

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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ 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. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com