frequentia Latin · revision 7388
16 Oct 2026, 13:51 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)”
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Rhetorica ad Herennium|origins=la frequēns}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [frɛˈkʷɛn.ti.a]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [freˈkʷɛn.t͡si.a]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''frequentia''' ''f'' (genitive frequentiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[frequēns]] “crowded, frequent” with the suffix [[-ia]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's first source is the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'', which he dates 86/82 BC.^(Köbler 2010) The OLD's earliest citations for most senses are from Cicero.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The TLL notes it means both a multitude of persons or things and the act of coming together.^(TLL) It meant a dense mass, as in Vitruvius, populousness, crowdedness, and a large attendance or concourse, a crowd, as in Cicero.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) It meant a great number of things, abundance, population, as in Columella, and frequent occurrence, frequency, assiduous attendance on a person.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant frequency, multitude, crowd.^(Stelten 1995) British Medieval Latin used it of a large number or amount.^(DMLBS) [[en|frequency]] came in the 1550s, first as “crowdedness”, and in the 1640s “frequent occurrence”.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 86/82 BC – The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' has the word.^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of crowds and of frequency.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a dense mass.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1550s – English ''frequency'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A dense mass; populousness; crowdedness.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A large attendance; a crowd.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Abundance; a multitude; population.^(OLD 2012)
+ # [[m|en|Frequency]]; constant attendance.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[frequēns]]
+ * [[frequentō]]
+ * [[en|frequency]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}