fidelitas

Latin

Etymology

From fidēlis (“faithful”) +‎ -tās, from fidēs (“faith”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /fiˈdeː.li.taːs/, [fɪˈd̪eːlʲɪt̪äːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /fiˈde.li.tas/, [fiˈd̪ɛːlit̪äs]

Noun

fidēlitās f (genitive fidēlitātis); third declension

1. faithfulness, fidelity
2. (Medieval Latin) homage, fealty (as distinct from fidēs, religious faith)

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fidēlitās	fidēlitātēs
Genitive	fidēlitātis	fidēlitātum
Dative	fidēlitātī	fidēlitātibus
Accusative	fidēlitātem	fidēlitātēs
Ablative	fidēlitāte	fidēlitātibus
Vocative	fidēlitās	fidēlitātēs

Related terms

• fidēlis
• fidēs
• fīdō
• fīdus

Descendants

• Italo-Romance;
  • Italian: fedeltà
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: fealté, feelté (early fedieltad)
    • Middle French: féauté
      • French: féauté (archaic)
    • Old Lorrain: fauteit
    • Norman: fiauté
  • → Middle English: feaute, fealtye, feawte, feute, feutee, fewte, fewtee, fewtee, ffeute, foialte
    • English: fealty (/l/ restored due to learned influence)
    • Middle Scots: fewte
      • ⇒ Scots: feauto
  • → Middle Dutch: fealteit
  • → Old Spanish: fealdad
    • Spanish: fealdad
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: feheltat
  • Old Occitan: fedaltat, fezeltat
    • Occitan: feséltat

      Provençal: feséutat

• West Iberian:
  • Old Spanish: fieldad (either semi-learned or dialectal)
    • Spanish: fieldad
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: fialdade, fieldade
    • Galician: fieldade
    • Portuguese: fieldade
• Borrowings:
  • → Catalan: fidelitat
  • → Middle English: fidelite
    • English: fidelity
  • → Middle French: fidélité
    • French: fidélité
      • → Romanian: fidelitate
  • → Portuguese: fidelidade
  • → Spanish: fidelidad

References

• “fidelitas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fidelitas”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fidelitas in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• fidelitas in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.