commoditas Latin · revision 33920

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''commoditās''' ''f'' (genitive commoditātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|commodus|-tās|t1=suitable, convenient]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) [[m|la|commodus]] is made from [[m|la|com-]] and [[m|la|modus|t=measure]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*medo-|t=measure, judgement]] and [[ine-pro|*med-o-|t=measure]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Plautus;^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) in the ''Menaechmi'' a character claims to know every moment of opportunity.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is timeliness, the right moment, as in Plautus.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) It then means fitness and due proportion: the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' praises a writer's aptness and brevity, Cicero uses it of fitting expression in a speech, and Suetonius of the symmetry of Augustus' limbs.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From there it is advantage and convenience: Terence's character thanks Fortune for the advantages heaped on one day.^(OLD 2012) Caecilius uses it of a father's obligingness, which blunted all the speaker's tricks and deceits.^(OLD 2012) Stelten gives "fitness, convenience, ease" for Church Latin;^(Stelten 1995) in Medieval Latin it also means goods, provisions,^(Niermeyer 1976) and it is the source of the English [[m|en|commodity]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the right moment.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius of obligingness.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of advantages.^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of the proportion of the limbs.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * early 15th century – [[m|en|commodity]] appears in English, from Old French and Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|timeliness|alt=Timeliness]], opportuneness.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Fitness, aptness, due [[m|en|proportion]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Advantage, [[m|en|convenience]], usefulness; an advantage.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Obligingness, [[m|en|complaisance]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Goods, provisions.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[commodus]]

+ * [[commodum]]

+ * [[modus]]

+ * [[en|commodity]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}