Graecitas

Latin

Alternative forms

• Also with initial lower-case g.

Etymology

Graecus (“of or belonging to the Greeks”, “Greek”, “Grecian”, adjective) +‎ -tās (“-ity”, “-ness”, suffix forming nouns)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡrae̯.ki.taːs/, [ˈɡräe̯kɪt̪äːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡre.t͡ʃi.tas/, [ˈɡrɛːt͡ʃit̪äs]

Proper noun

Graecitās f sg (genitive Graecitātis); third declension

1. (Late Latin) Greek (the Greek language, familiar to the ancients)
   • 438 CE, Codex Theodosianus, Book XIV, 9.3.1:

     Habeat igitur audītōrium speciāliter nostrum in hīs prīmum, quōs Rōmānae ēloquentiae doctrīna commendat, ōrātōrēs quidem trēs numerō, decem vērō grammaticōs; in hīs etiam, quī fācundiā graecitātis pollēre nōscuntur, quīnque numerō sint sofistae et grammaticī aequē decem.

     Therefore let our school specially have firstly among these (professors), whom the instruction of Roman eloquence recommends, exactly three orators in number (and) specifically ten grammarians; also among them, who are recognized to prevail in Greek eloquence, let there be five sophists in number and equally ten grammarians.

Declension

Third-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Graecitās
Genitive	Graecitātis
Dative	Graecitātī
Accusative	Graecitātem
Ablative	Graecitāte
Vocative	Graecitās

Descendants

• English: Graecity
• French: grécité
• German: Gräzität
• Italian: grecità
• Romanian: grecitate
• Portuguese: grecidade

References

• “Graecĭtas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• GRÆCITAS 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)
• græcĭtās in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 719/2.
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “graecitas”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 474/2