brevitas Latin · revision 31976

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=86/82 BC, Rhetorica ad Herennium|origins=ine-pro *mr̥ǵʰ-ú-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''brevitās''' ''f'' (genitive brevitātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|brevis|-tās|t1=short]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|brevis]] to [[itc-pro|*mreχ-u(-i-)]] and [[ine-pro|*mr̥ǵʰ-ú-|t=short]], an old ⟨u⟩-stem adjective enlarged with ⟨*i⟩ in Latin.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[grc|βραχύς|tr=brakhús|t=short]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' uses it of the short quantity of a letter,^(OLD 2012) and Köbler's first source is Lucretius, who has it of the small size of a seed.^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is shortness of distance or narrowness, as Gellius' narrowness of a strait, and shortness of stature, as Caesar's remark that the Gauls despised Roman shortness.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also smallness of size, and above all shortness of time, as Cicero's brevity of life.^(OLD 2012) Of speech and writing it is brevity, as Cicero's plea that the jury should not weigh the charges by the shortness of his speech, and in rhetoric concise style, which Cicero defines as using no word that is not needed.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it “shortness”.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|brevity]] is from about 1500.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

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

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of small size.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the shortness of life and of brevity of style.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar of short stature.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1500 – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|brevity]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Shortness of distance, narrowness; short stature.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Smallness of size or quantity.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Shortness of time; shortness of life.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|brevity|alt=Brevity]] of speech or writing; [[m|en|conciseness]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(prosody)'' Short [[m|en|quantity]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[brevī]]

+ * [[breviārius]]

+ * [[breviātiō]]

+ * [[breviātor]]

+ * [[breviculus]]

+ * [[breviloquēns]]

+ * [[breviloquentia]]

+ * [[breviloquium]]

+ * [[breviloquus]]

+ * [[breviō]]

+ * [[brevis]]

+ * [[bruma|alt=brūma]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}