humilitas

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin humilis

Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ts

Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts

Proto-Italic *-tāts

Latin -tās

Latin humilitās

From humilis (“humble”) + -tās (“-ity”, “-ness”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [hʊˈmɪ.lɪ.taːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [uˈmiː.li.tas]

Noun

humilitās f (genitive humilitātis); third declension

1. insignificance, lowliness, unimportance
   • c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Lucas.1.46–48:

     Magnificat anima mea Dominum, et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo, quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae.

     My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour, because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid.

2. degradation, debasement, humiliation
3. submissiveness, obedience
4. (post-Classical) humility, modesty
   • c. 420 CE, John Cassian, De institutis coenobiorum 12.31:

     Humilitas vero nullatenus poterit absque nuditate conquiri.

     Humility, indeed, can in no way be acquired without nakedness.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	humilitās	humilitātēs
genitive	humilitātis	humilitātum
dative	humilitātī	humilitātibus
accusative	humilitātem	humilitātēs
ablative	humilitāte	humilitātibus
vocative	humilitās	humilitātēs

Descendants

• >? Neapolitan: omertà, umertà
  • →? Sicilian: umirtà
  • → Italian: omertà
    • → Dutch: omerta
    • → English: omertà
• → Proto-Brythonic: *ʉβ̃ɨldọd (see there for further descendants)
• → Catalan: humilitat
• → Franco-Provençal: humilitá
• → Old French: umilitet, umilite
  • Middle French: humilité
    • French: humilité
  • → Middle English: humilite
    • English: humility
• → Old Irish: umaldóit
  • Middle Irish: umallóit
    • Irish: umhlóid
• → Italian: umiltà
• → Occitan: umilitat
• → Piedmontese: umiltà
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: humildade (semi-learned)
  • Galician: humildade
  • Portuguese: humildade
• → Romanian: umilitate
• → Old Spanish: humildat (semi-learned)
  • Spanish: humildad

References

• “humilitas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “humilitas”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "humilitas", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “humilitas”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Souter, Alexander (1949), “humilitas”, in A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.‎^[1], 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 1957, page 177
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “humilitas”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 507