situs Latin · revision 2750

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *tḱey-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈsɪ.tʊs], [ˈsɪ.tuːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsiː.tus], [ˈsiː.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''situs''' ''m'' (genitive sitūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|sinō|-tus|t1=to place, let]], an action noun from the verb whose participle [[m|la|situs]] means “placed, situated”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) The verb goes back to [[ine-pro|*tḱey-|t=to settle, dwell]].^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates the noun from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who speaks of the [[m|en|position]] of the things we look at and of Messana adorned by its [[m|en|site]], its walls and its harbour.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant the position of a thing in relation to its surroundings, the situation of a town or camp, the particular site of a bone in Celsus, and, by extension, a structure, as in Horace's “the royal pile of the pyramids”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Pliny it meant the layout of a region and hence a region or quarter of the world itself.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Late Latin used it for a description, and Augustine and Martianus Capella for the philosophical category of position.^(Wiktionary)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval Latin used it for the site of a building, a watermill or a salt-boiler, for the meeting place of a court and for a subdivision of the ''pagus''.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) It survives as Italian ''sito'', Spanish ''sitio'', Portuguese ''sítio'' and French ''site'',^(Wiktionary) and English [[m|en|site]] came through Anglo-French in the late 14th century, while ''situs'' and ''in situ'' (1740) are used in technical writing.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of position and of the site of a town.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of the sites of towns and camps.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the pile of the pyramids.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of the position of a bone.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a region.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 775 – A charter has a medieval sense.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – [[en|site|alt=Site]] is borrowed into English.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1740 – ''In situ'' is used in English.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|position]] of a thing; the situation or [[m|en|site]] of a town, camp or building.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A structure, a pile.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The layout of a region; a region, a quarter of the world.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A description, and in philosophy the category of position.^(Wiktionary)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The site of a building or mill; the meeting place of a court; a subdivision of the ''pagus''.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[situō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sitis]]

+ * [[sinō]]

+ * [[en|site]]

+ * [[en|situation]]

+ * [[en|situate]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A second noun ''situs'', also of the fourth declension, means neglect or disuse, and the mould, rust or dust that result from it, as in Plautus' “I rot with idleness”; the OLD and de Vaan treat it separately, deriving it from [[ine-pro|*dʰgʷʰi-tu-|t=destruction, perishing]], the root of [[sitis]], while Köbler leaves open a derivation from ''sinere''.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) The participle ''situs'' “laid, buried” appears in the epitaph formula ''hic situs est''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}