inertia Latin · revision 31199

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *h₂r-tí-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪˈnɛr.ti.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iˈnɛr.t͡si.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''inertia''' ''f'' (genitive inertiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|iners|t=unskilled, idle]] with the suffix [[m|la|-ia]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The adjective is formed from the negative [[m|la|in-|t=not]] and [[m|la|ars|t=skill]], which de Vaan derives from [[itc-pro|*arti-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂r-tí-|t=the fitting]], cognate with [[grc|ἄρτι|tr=árti|t=just, exactly]].^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler gives Cato as its first author,^(Köbler 2010) who writes that “if you do not exercise men, idleness and torpor do more harm than exercise”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is first lack of skill, as Cicero's minds judged by “virtues and vices, skills and lack of skill”, which Lewis and Short call rare.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) More often it is idleness, sloth or indolence, as in Cato, Cicero and Livy, and in war a want of spirit or enterprise.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Church Latin glosses it “inactivity, idleness, inertia, lack of skill”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ Kepler took it into physics as a term for the property of matter by which it stays at rest or in uniform motion unless acted on, and Newton used it in 1687 in his New Latin;^(Etymonline) English [[m|en|inertia]] is recorded from 1713.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of idleness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of lack of skill.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1687 – Newton uses it as a term of physics.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1713 – English [[m|en|inertia]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Want of skill, unskilfulness, ignorance.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|idleness|alt=Idleness]], [[m|en|sloth]], indolence; want of spirit.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(New Latin, physics)'' [[m|en|inertia|alt=Inertia]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[iners]]

+ * [[inersitūdō]]

+ * [[inerticulus]]

+ * [[ars]]

+ * [[ignāvia]]

+ * [[sōcordia]]

+ * [[en|inert]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes it from ''ignāvia'': ''ignāvia'' is a love of idleness rooted in temperament, a lack of the impulse to act that marks the nobler man, while ''inertia'' lies in the character and makes a man useless to society.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}