gratuitus Latin · revision 9516
16 Oct 2026, 19:01 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *gʷerH-}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ɡraː.tuˈiː.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ɡra.tuˈiː.tus]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''grātuītus''' (feminine grātuīta, neuter grātuītum, adverb grātuītō); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)
+ The ''ī'' is long in Plautus, short in Statius.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from the root of [[grātia]] “favour” and [[grātus]] “pleasing”, with the ending of [[fortuītus]], and the OLD derives it from [[grātēs]] “thanks”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) De Vaan traces ⟨grātus⟩ to [[itc-pro|*gʷrāto-]], from [[ine-pro|*gʷr̥H-tó-|t=praised]].^(de Vaan 2008)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of what costs nothing.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant costing nothing, free, gratuitous, as in Plautus; unpaid, disinterested, as in Cicero's ''grātuīta suffrāgia'' “votes not bought” and his contrast with ''mercennārius''; bringing no profit; of loans, free of interest, as in Seneca; and without sufficient reason, spontaneous, unprovoked, as in Livy.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant free, voluntary, spontaneous.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for useless, unprofitable, and for undeserved.^(Niermeyer 1976) [[en|gratuitous]] (1650s, “freely bestowed”) is from it; the sense “uncalled for” came later.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the unprovoked.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1650s – English ''gratuitous'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Free of charge, [[m|en|gratuitous]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # Unpaid, disinterested; unprofitable.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # (of loans) Free of interest.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Spontaneous, unprovoked.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[grātuītās]]
+ * [[grātuītō]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[grātia]]
+ * [[grātus]]
+ * [[grātīs]]
+ * [[en|gratuitous]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}