potentia
See also: Potentia
Latin
Etymology
From potēns (“able, powerful”) + -ia (“abstract noun suffix”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /poˈten.ti.a/, [pɔˈt̪ɛn̪t̪iä]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /poˈten.t͡si.a/, [poˈt̪ɛnt̪͡s̪iä]
Noun
potentia f (genitive potentiae); first declension
- force, power, might
- ability, capacity
- political power, authority, influence, sway
- supreme dominion, sovereignty
- 8 CE, Ovid, 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).)
- “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?”
- ‘haec est, cui fuerat prōmissa potentia rērum,
- (Medieval Latin) crutch, walking aid
Declension
First-declension noun.
| Case | 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: putènzia
- Spanish: potencia
Participle
potentia
- 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’s 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, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to acquire influence: opes, gratiam, potentiam consequi
- (ambiguous) oligarchy: paucorum dominatio or potentia
- to acquire influence: opes, gratiam, potentiam consequi
- “potentia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- potentia in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, 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