diligentia Latin · revision 18000

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *leǵ-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dīligentia''' ''f'' (genitive dīligentiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|la|dīligēns|-ia|t1=careful, attentive]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|dīligēns]] is the present participle of [[m|la|dīligō|t=to esteem, love]], from ⟨dis-⟩ and [[m|la|legō|t=to choose, gather]], which goes back to [[ine-pro|*leǵ-|t=to collect]].^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has ''cūrāte haec sultis magnā dīligentiā'', “please see to these things with great care”.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates it from Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Dīligentia'' is “carefulness, attentiveness, assiduity”, and with a genitive careful attention to something.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) L&S group it with ''industria'', ''assiduitās'', ''sēdulitās'', ''studium'' and ''cūra''.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It also means “thrift, economical management”: the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' defines it as ''accūrāta cōnservātiō suōrum'', “careful keeping of one's own”, and Nepos speaks of acquiring things ''dīligentiā'' rather than by spending.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “diligence, accuracy, carefulness, attentiveness”.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|diligence]] comes from it, partly through Old French, in the mid-14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ''magnā dīligentiā''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86/82 BC – The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' uses it of thrift.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-14th century – English [[m|en|diligence]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Carefulness, attentiveness, [[m|en|diligence]], [[m|en|assiduity]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # [[m|en|thrift]], economical management.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dīligēns]]

+ * [[dīligenter]]

+ * [[dīligō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}