fecunditas Latin · revision 32880

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la fēcundus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fēcunditās''' ''f'' (genitive fēcunditātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|fēcundus|-tās|t1=fertile]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan reconstructs [[m|la|fēcundus]] as [[itc-pro|*fēk-odno-]], perhaps from [[ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-k-]], and treats it with [[m|la|fēmina]]; the verb usually cited, *dʰeh₁(i)- "to suck", may be the same as *dʰeh₁- "to put".^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cicero has it of a wretched woman's ill-fated fertility.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler's first source is Sallust.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the fertility of female animals and of land: Cicero writes that irrigation gives fertility to the earth.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Columella says that nature gave plants, people and animals the same law of fertility.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively Cicero uses it of the exuberance of a young speaker's talent.^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder uses it of the output of a breed, pigs producing litters of up to twenty.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it fruitfulness.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|fecundity]] is borrowed from it in the early 15th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of fertile women and land.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella of the law of fertility.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of litters.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 15th century – English borrows it as ''fecundity''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|fertility|alt=Fertility]], [[m|en|fecundity]], fruitfulness, of animals and land; figuratively, of the mind.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Output, production.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fecundus|alt=fēcundus]]

+ * [[en|fecundity]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}