infantia

Latin

Etymology

From īnfāns (“mute, speechless; young, little”) +‎ -ia.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /inˈfan.ti.a/, [ĩːˈfän̪t̪iä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /inˈfan.t͡si.a/, [iɱˈfänt̪͡s̪iä]

Noun

īnfantia f (genitive īnfantiae); first declension

1. inability to speak, muteness, speechlessness; want of eloquence, ineloquence
2. infancy, early childhood; the young, children
3. childishness
   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Proverbs.1.22:

     usquequō, parvulī, dīligitis īnfantiam, et stultī ea quæ sibi sunt noxia cupient, et imprūdentēs odībunt scientiam

     O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge? (Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.; 1752 CE)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	īnfantia	īnfantiae
genitive	īnfantiae	īnfantiārum
dative	īnfantiae	īnfantiīs
accusative	īnfantiam	īnfantiās
ablative	īnfantiā	īnfantiīs
vocative	īnfantia	īnfantiae

Related terms

• īnfandus
• īnfāns
• īnfantārius
• īnfanticīda
• īnfanticīdium
• īnfantilis
• īnfantō
• īnfantula
• īnfantulus

Descendants

• French: enfance
• → Catalan: infància
• → English: infancy
• → Galician: infancia
• → Italian: infanzia
• → Portuguese: infância
• → Spanish: infancia

References

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