lentitudo Latin · revision 36550

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *lent-o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɫɛn.tɪˈtuː.doː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [len.tiˈtuː.do]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lentitūdō''' ''f'' (genitive lentitūdinis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|lentus|-tūdō|t1=pliant; slow]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|lentus]] to [[itc-pro|*lento-|t=soft]] and [[ine-pro|*lent-o-|t=soft, smooth, pliant]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[lt|lentà|t=board, plank]] and [[goh|lindi|t=soft, mild]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who writes to his brother that never to be angry belongs not only to dignity but sometimes also to apathy, ''nōnnumquam etiam lentitūdinis''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Vitruvius uses it of the pliancy of the elm and the ash, and Pliny the Elder of a mixture boiled until it has the stickiness of honey.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Of people it meant slowness or dilatoriness: Velleius has Metellus accused of slowness in dragging a war into its third year, and Tacitus writes of the hesitation of conspirators.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero also uses it for apathy or lack of feeling, and Tacitus in the ''Dialogus'' of dullness of style.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ British medieval writers used it for slowness in action.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of apathy in not growing angry.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the pliancy of wood.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius uses it of a general's slowness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|flexibility|alt=Flexibility]], pliancy.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|viscosity|alt=Viscosity]], stickiness.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Slowness in action, [[m|en|sluggishness]], dilatoriness.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Lack of feeling, [[m|en|apathy]]; of style, dullness.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lentē]]

+ * [[lentēscō]]

+ * [[lentulus]]

+ * [[lentus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Manuscripts sometimes confuse it with [[lēnitūdō]] “mildness”, as in Cicero's letter to his brother and in Pliny the Elder.^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}