vetustas Latin · revision 30740

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=204–169 BC, Ennius|origins=ine-pro *uet-os-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [wɛˈtʊs.taːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [veˈtus.tas]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vetustās''' ''f'' (genitive vetustātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed with the suffix [[m|la|-tās]] from the stem of [[m|la|vetus|t=old]], as in [[m|la|vetustus|t=ancient]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan traces ⟨vetus⟩ to [[ine-pro|*uet-os-|t=year]], “of many years”, cognate with [[grc|ἔτος|tr=étos|t=year]], [[sa|वत्सर|tr=vatsará-|t=year]], [[hit|u̯itt-|t=year]] and [[cu|ветъхъ|tr=vetŭxŭ|t=old]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Ennius, ''Annals'': ''multa tenēns antīqua, sepulta vetustās quae facit'', “knowing many ancient things that the long past has buried”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) De Vaan records it from Plautus on.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Vetustās'' is the condition of being old: the beauty of form fades through disease or age (''Rhetorica ad Herennium''), wine is mellow with age (Plautus), and an illness grows chronic.^(OLD 2012) It is also long existence and antiquity, the archaic quality of things (Virgil), and age as what wears and destroys (Cato of vessels broken by age).^(OLD 2012) Of affairs it is long duration, “time”, and in a person long practice and experience (Cicero).^(OLD 2012) Ennius already uses it for the distant past and its people.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “old age, old life, former ways, antiquity, posterity”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of the buried past.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of wine mellow with age.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of vessels broken by age.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a town ancient in age and of experience.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Old age, age; the mellowness of old wine.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Long existence; [[m|en|antiquity]]; archaic quality.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Age as bringing decay.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Long duration; long practice, [[m|en|experience]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The distant past, its people and institutions; antiquity.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vetus]]

+ * [[vetustus]]

+ * [[veterānus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}