potentia

See also: Potentia

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *pótis

Proto-Italic *potis

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti

Proto-Italic *-ēō

Proto-Italic *potēō

Proto-Italic *potēnts

Latin potēns

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ia

Latin potentia

From potēns (“able, powerful”) + -ia (“abstract noun suffix”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [pɔˈtɛn.ti.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [poˈtɛn.t͡si.a]

Noun

potentia f (genitive potentiae); first declension

1. force, power, might
2. ability, capacity
3. political power, authority, influence, sway
4. supreme dominion, sovereignty
   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 6.359–360:

     ‘haec est, cui fuerat prōmissa potentia rērum,
     Iuppiter? hanc terrīs impositūrus erās?’

     “Is this [that city] to which had been promised the sovereignty of the world, O Jupiter? Is this [that city] you were about to impose [as a ruler] upon nations?”
     (Mars (mythology) is addressing Jupiter (mythology).)

5. (Medieval Latin) crutch, walking aid

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	potentia	potentiae
genitive	potentiae	potentiārum
dative	potentiae	potentiīs
accusative	potentiam	potentiās
ablative	potentiā	potentiīs
vocative	potentia	potentiae

Synonyms

• potestas

Derived terms

• potentiālis
• potentiāliter

Related terms

• possum
• potēns
• potenter

Descendants

• Asturian: pudencia, potencia
• English: in potentia, potency
• Italian: potenza
• → Old French: potence
  • → English: potence
  • French: potence
• Portuguese: potência
• Romanian: potență, putință
• Russian: потенция (potencija)
• Sicilian: putenza
• Spanish: potencia

Participle

potentia

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural of potēns

References

• “potentia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “potentia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "potentia", 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)
• “potentia”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to acquire influence: opes, gratiam, potentiam consequi
    
  • (ambiguous) oligarchy: paucorum dominatio or potentia
    
• “potentia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• potentia in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “potentia”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• “potentia”, in Richard Stillwell et al., editor (1976), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press