astutia

Latin

Etymology

From ā̆stūtus (“cunning, full of tricks”) +‎ -ia. First attested in Plautus and as aastvtieis in 3d to 2nd century BCE Falerii, with what appears to be a practice of marking long vowels also observed in a nearby inscription.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aːsˈtuː.ti.a/, [äːs̠ˈt̪uːt̪iä] or IPA^(key): /asˈtuː.ti.a/, [äs̠ˈt̪uːt̪iä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /asˈtut.t͡si.a/, [äsˈt̪ut̪ː͡s̪iä]

Noun

ā̆stūtia f (genitive ā̆stūtiae); first declension

1. cunning, craftiness, cleverness, shrewdness (adeptness at using tricks)
2. subtlety
   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Proverbs.1.4:

     Ut dētur parvulīs āstūtiā, adolēscentī scientiā et intellēctus.

     To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding. (Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.; 1752 CE)

3. a cunning trick, stratagem

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	ā̆stūtia	ā̆stūtiae
genitive	ā̆stūtiae	ā̆stūtiārum
dative	ā̆stūtiae	ā̆stūtiīs
accusative	ā̆stūtiam	ā̆stūtiās
ablative	ā̆stūtiā	ā̆stūtiīs
vocative	ā̆stūtia	ā̆stūtiae

Descendants

• → Catalan: astúcia
• → French: astuce
• → Galician: astucia
• → Italian: astuzia
• → Portuguese: astúcia
• → Sicilian: stùzzia
• → Spanish: astucia

References

• “astūtia” on page 212 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)

Further reading

• “astutia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “astutia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• astutia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.