taciturnitas Latin · revision 33185

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *tHk-eh₁-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''taciturnitās''' ''f'' (genitive taciturnitātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|taciturnus|-tās|t1=silent, taciturn]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|taciturnus]] is formed from [[m|la|taceō|t=to be silent]],^(Köbler 2010) which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*tak-ē-|t=to be silent]] and [[ine-pro|*tHk-eh₁-|t=to be silent]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008) In Terence's ''Andria'' what is needed is ''fide et taciturnitate'', “loyalty and silence”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the keeping of silence about something, and also a failure to write or send word.^(OLD 2012) Cicero speaks of the silence of witnesses and of the senate house, and of a man's slowness and reserve.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace has the silence of poets that would rob Romulus of his fame.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Georges separates plain silence from discretion as a virtue.^(Georges 1913) In British medieval Latin it is the silence of monastic life, as in Bede and Alcuin, and also an inability or refusal to speak.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the noun.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence, of keeping a secret.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the silence of witnesses and of the senate.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A keeping [[m|en|silent]], [[m|en|silence]] about something.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # [[m|en|discretion|alt=Discretion]], reserve, [[m|en|taciturnity]].^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Failure to communicate by letter or otherwise.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Inability or unwillingness to speak.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[taceō]]

+ * [[taciturnus]]

+ * [[tacitus]]

+ * [[reticentia]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}