excellentia

Latin

Etymology

From excellēns (“elevated, exalted”) +‎ -ia, present participle of excellō (“elevate, exult”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ek.skelˈlen.ti.a/, [ɛks̠kɛlˈlʲɛn̪t̪iä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ek.ʃelˈlen.t͡si.a/, [ekʃelˈlɛnt̪͡s̪iä]

Noun

excellentia f (genitive excellentiae); first declension

1. excellence, superiority
2. merit

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	excellentia	excellentiae
Genitive	excellentiae	excellentiārum
Dative	excellentiae	excellentiīs
Accusative	excellentiam	excellentiās
Ablative	excellentiā	excellentiīs
Vocative	excellentia	excellentiae

Related terms

• excellēns
• excellenter
• excellō
• excelsitās
• excelsus

Descendants

• Catalan: excel·lència
• English: excellence, excellency
• French: excellence
• Galician: excelencia
• German: Exzellenz
• Italian: eccellenza
• Occitan: excelléncia
• Portuguese: excelência
• Romanian: excelență
• Spanish: excelencia

References

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