candidatus Latin · revision 668

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [kan.dɪˈdaː.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kan.diˈdaː.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''candidātus''' ''m'' (genitive candidātī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the adjective [[m|la|candidātus|t=dressed in white]], formed from [[candidus]] “white” with the suffix [[m|la|-ātus]], used as a noun.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Candidates for office wore a toga whitened, probably with chalk.^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As an adjective “dressed in [[m|en|white]]” it is found in Plautus,^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) and as a noun for a [[m|en|candidate]] in Varro and Cicero.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun it meant a candidate for an office, as in ''candidatus consularis'' or ''praetorius'', and Cicero calls candidates ''officiosissima natio'' “the most obliging tribe” for their courting of voters.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It also meant a candidate for a rank, and figuratively anyone striving after something, as Pliny the Younger calls Trajan a candidate “not only for the consulship but for immortality”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Christian writers used ''candidati'' for the newly baptized, dressed in white, and for martyrs.^(TLL) In medieval Latin it meant a member of the papal guard.^(Niermeyer 1976) A fourth-declension noun ''candidātus'' “candidacy” appears in the Theodosian Code.^(TLL)^(Gaffiot 2016) English borrowed it as [[en|candidate]] around 1600.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as an adjective, “dressed in white”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro mentions a candidate elected aedile.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it often for candidates.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 100 AD – Pliny the Younger calls Trajan a candidate for immortality.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses ''candidatus'' for candidacy.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1600 – English borrows it as [[en|candidate]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|candidate]] for office.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' One who strives after something.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Christian Latin)'' A newly baptized person; a martyr.^(TLL)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A member of the papal guard.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Dressed in white.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[candidāta]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[candidus]]

+ * [[en|candidate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}