Etymologically
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varietas

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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]

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