humilitas

Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /huˈmi.li.taːs/, [hʊˈmɪlʲɪt̪äːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /uˈmi.li.tas/, [uˈmiːlit̪äs]

Noun

humilitās f (genitive humilitātis); third declension

1. insignificance, lowliness, unimportance
   • 405 CE, Jerome, 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.

Case	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
• → Old Franco-Provençal: humilitá
  • 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’s 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