vilitas Latin · revision 32340

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vīlitās''' ''f'' (genitive vīlitātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|vīlis|-tās|t1=cheap]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|vīlis]] to [[itc-pro|*wesli-]] and [[ine-pro|*u̯es-li-|t=what can be bought]], a verbal adjective whose root appears in [[hit|u̯āš-|t=to buy]]; the expected ⟨vēlis⟩ was raised to ⟨vīlis⟩, perhaps under the influence of the preceding /w/.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) The OLD's first example is in Terence's ''Phormio'': “was this the cheapness that cut down our income?”^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is first lowness of price: Cicero describes a sudden fall in the price of grain after scarcity.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) From cheapness it passed to worthlessness and low esteem, as in Seneca, and to baseness of character or lowness of rank, as when Curtius speaks of the cheapness of a body made common.^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder uses it of the ordinary quality that gave a kind of plum its name, “asses' plums”.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it baseness.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of low prices.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the cheapness of grain.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Curtius of baseness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Lowness of price, [[m|en|cheapness]]; worthlessness.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Low esteem, [[m|en|contempt]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Baseness, meanness; lowness of rank.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Common or ordinary quality.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}