valetudo Latin · revision 30712

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *h₂ulh₁-eh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [wa.ɫeːˈtuː.doː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [va.leˈtuː.do]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''valētūdō''' ''f'' (genitive valētūdinis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''valītūdō''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|valeō|t=to be strong, be well]], through an unattested participle ⟨*valētus⟩ and the suffix [[m|la|-tūdō]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces ⟨valeō⟩ to [[itc-pro|*walē-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂ulh₁-eh₁-|t=to be strong]], cognate with [[sga|flaith|t=rule]] and [[hit|hulle-|t=to smash, defeat]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus, ''Curculio'': ''valētūdō dēcrēscit, accrēscit labor'', “health dwindles, toil increases”, in the good sense “sound health”.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its meaning is neutral: the condition of the body, which the context or an adjective makes good or bad (Caesar's ''optimā valētūdine ūtī'', “to be in the best of health”).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Used alone it often means bad health, an illness or indisposition, as in Afranius.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short also record it of the state of the mind.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “health, strength, state of health”.^(Stelten 1995) In medieval Latin it took up the senses of [[valeō]] itself: strength, legal validity, violence, value.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense “good health”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 2nd century BC – Afranius in the sense “illness”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a friend's recovered health.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Good health, soundness of body.^(OLD 2012)

+ # State of health, condition of the body (good or bad).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Bad health, [[m|en|illness]], [[m|en|indisposition]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Strength; [[m|en|validity]]; force, violence; value.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[valētūdinārius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[valeō]]

+ * [[validus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein lists ''valētūdō'' among the words for illness: its plain meaning is health, and it means ill health only in context.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}