vetustas
Latin
Etymology
From vetus (“old”) + -tās (used to form nouns indicating a state of being).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /u̯eˈtus.taːs/, [u̯ɛˈt̪ʊs̠t̪äːs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /veˈtus.tas/, [veˈt̪ust̪äs]
Noun
vetustās f (genitive vetustātis); third declension
- old age
- long existence or duration
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.129-132:
- praestitibus Maiae Laribus vīdēre Kalendae
āram cōnstituī parvaque signa deum.
vōverat illa quidem Curius: sed multa vetustās
dēstruit, et saxō longa senecta nocet- The Calends of May beheld an altar erected to the Guardian Lares, and little statues of the gods. Indeed, Curius had dedicated them; but a long existence destroys many [things], and prolonged age is damaging to stone.
(See Manius Curius Dentatus.)
- The Calends of May beheld an altar erected to the Guardian Lares, and little statues of the gods. Indeed, Curius had dedicated them; but a long existence destroys many [things], and prolonged age is damaging to stone.
- praestitibus Maiae Laribus vīdēre Kalendae
- antiquity
Declension
Third-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | vetustās | vetustātēs |
| Genitive | vetustātis | vetustātum |
| Dative | vetustātī | vetustātibus |
| Accusative | vetustātem | vetustātēs |
| Ablative | vetustāte | vetustātibus |
| Vocative | vetustās | vetustātēs |
Descendants
- → English: vetustity
- → French: vétusté
- → Italian: vetustà
Adjective
vetustās
- accusative feminine plural of vetustus
References
- “vetustas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “vetustas”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- vetustas in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to be very old friends: vetustate amicitiae coniunctum esse
- to go back to the remote ages: repetere ab ultima (extrema, prisca) antiquitate (vetustate), ab heroicis temporibus
- an old proverb which every one knows: proverbium vetustate or sermone tritum (vid. sect. II. 3, note tritus...)
- time assuages the most violent grief: vel maximos luctus vetustate tollit diuturnitas (Fam. 5. 16. 5)
- to be very old friends: vetustate amicitiae coniunctum esse
Portuguese
Adjective
vetustas
- feminine plural of vetusto
Spanish
Adjective
vetustas
- feminine plural of vetusto