enormitas Latin · revision 4072

15 Oct 2026, 21:07 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
Initial text

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Seneca the Younger|origins=la ēnormis}}
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''ēnormitās''' ''f'' (genitive ēnormitātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[af|la|ēnormis|-tās|t1=irregular, huge]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The TLL dates it from Seneca the Younger, who uses it of the enormous size of a man's feet.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) Köbler dates Seneca 4 BC–65 AD.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It meant irregularity, as Quintilian's comparison of rough stones whose very irregularity finds a place to fit.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) It also meant hugeness, excessive size, of weights, burdens and a vehicle, in Vegetius, the Historia Augusta and the Theodosian Code.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ In Christian Latin it was a departure from the right rule, perversity, as in Tertullian and Novatian.^(TLL) Medieval Latin used it of excess, moral enormity and mortal sin, the gravity of a crime and an irregularity of procedure.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS)^(MLW) English ''enormity'' came from Old French in the late 15th century, first of a crime or irregularity.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of enormous size.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of irregularity.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of deviation from the norm.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * late 15th century – English ''enormity'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # [[m|en|irregularity]] of shape.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Hugeness, excessive size.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)
+ # ''(Late Latin)'' Perversity, wickedness.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An [[m|en|enormity]], mortal [[m|en|sin]]; the gravity of a crime.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[enormis]]
+ * [[en|enormity]]
+ * [[en|enormous]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}