conscientia Latin · revision 9511

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation, calque|attested=Cicero|origins=la scīre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [kõː.skiˈɛn.ti.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kon̠ʲ.ʃiˈɛn.t͡si.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cōnscientia''' ''f'' (genitive cōnscientiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The plural is rare.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from [[cōnscius]] or [[cōnsciō]] “to be aware” with the suffix [[-ia]], a calque of [[grc|συνείδησις|tr=suneídēsis|t=joint knowledge; conscience]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) ⟨Cōnsciō⟩ is from [[con-]] and [[sciō]] “to know”, which de Vaan thinks probably a back-formation from ⟨nescīre⟩, perhaps from a root meaning “to cut, distinguish”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest citations are from Cicero, of knowledge shared with others.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was knowledge held in common with others, joint knowledge, complicity, as in Cicero; awareness of something one has done, consciousness, as in Seneca; and, with ''animī'' or ''mentis'' or alone, the inward sense of the rightness or wrongness of one's actions, conscience, as in Cicero.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant conscience, consciousness, acknowledgment.^(Stelten 1995) British Medieval Latin used it for shared knowledge and complicity in guilt.^(DMLBS) [[en|conscience]] (about 1200, “the faculty of knowing what is right”) came through Old French and directly from Latin.^(Etymonline) It also survives in Italian ''coscienza'' and French ''conscience''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of joint knowledge and of conscience.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of consciousness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1200 – English ''conscience'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Joint knowledge; [[m|en|complicity|alt=Complicity]].^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS)

+ # Awareness, [[m|en|consciousness]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|conscience|alt=Conscience]], moral sense.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[subcōnscientia]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cōnsciō]]

+ * [[sciō]]

+ * [[cōnscius]]

+ * [[en|conscience]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}