# aetas
## Latin
### Alternative forms

* ētās (Medieval Latin)

### Etymology

Syncope of earlier aevitās, from Proto-Italic *aiwotāts, from *aiwom ((whence also aevum) from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“lifetime”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- (“vital energy, life”)) + *-tāts (whence also -tās). By surface analysis, aevum +‎ -tās.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈae̯.taːs/, [ˈäe̯t̪äːs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈe.tas/, [ˈɛːt̪äs]
* Rhymes: -aːs

### Noun

aetās f (genitive aetātis); third declension
* (principally) the period of a life: lifetime, lifespan
* time of life, period of life, age
    Nam ut cuiusque studium ex aetāte flāgrābat, aliīs scorta praebēre, aliīs canēs atque equōs mercārī.As the passions of each, according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to some, bought horses and dogs for others.
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.353–354:et monet aetātis speciē, dum flōreat, ūtī; contemnī spīnam, cum cecidēre rosaeAnd she urges [us] to indulge in the sight of [young] age, while [it is] still in bloom: The thorn is despised when the roses have fallen. (“She” is Flora (mythology).)
* an undefined, particularly long period of time: an age, an era, a term, a duration
* (metonymically) a generation

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Derived terms

* æt.
* aetātula
* aeternus

#### Descendants

* Balkan Romance:
** Aromanian: etã
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: età, etade, etate (archaic)
** Sicilian: itati, ità
* North Italian:
** Friulian: etât, ete
** Piedmontese: età
** Romansch: eted, età
** Venetan: età
* Gallo-Romance:
** Catalan: edat
** Old French: edet, eé
** Occitan: edat
* Ibero-Romance:
** Aragonese: edat
** Asturian: edá
** Galician: idade
** Portuguese: idade
** Spanish: edad
* Vulgar Latin:
** *aetāticum
*** Old Franco-Provençal: eiajo, eajo
**** Franco-Provençal: âjo
*** Old French: edage, eage, aage m or f (see there for further descendants)
* Borrowings:
** → Interlingua: etate
** → Romanian: etate

### References

* “aetas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “aetas”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "aetas", 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)
* aetas in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. the present day: haec tempora, nostra haec aetas, memoria in our time; in our days: his temporibus, nostra (hac) aetate, nostra memoria, his (not nostris) diebus our generation has seen many victories: nostra aetas multas victorias vidit in the time of Pericles: aetate (temporibus) Periclis the middle ages: media quae vocatur aetas Pericles, the greatest man of his day: Pericles summus vir illius aetatis to live (all) one's life (honourably, in the country, as a man of learning): vitam, aetatem (omnem aetatem, omne aetatis tempus) agere (honeste, ruri, in litteris), degere, traducere to be of such and such an age: ea aetate, id aetatis esse from one's entry into civil life: ab ineunte (prima) aetate (De Or. 1. 21. 97) the prime of youthful vigour: flos aetatis to be in the prime of life: aetate florere, vigere to be in the prime of life: integra aetate esse with advancing years: aetate progrediente with the weight, weakness of declining years: aetate ingravescente manhood: aetas constans, media, firmata, corroborata (not virilis) having reached man's estate: corroborata, firmata aetate to be advanced in years: aetate provectum esse (not aetate provecta) to be more advanced in years: longius aetate provectum esse to be infirm through old age: aetate affecta esse to die at a good old age: exacta aetate mori the last stage of life, one's last days: extrema aetas the last stage of life, one's last days: extremum tempus aetatis to be older than: aetate alicui antecedere, anteire how old are you: qua aetate es? to be entering on one's tenth year: decimum aetatis annum ingredi to be middle-aged (i.e. between thirty and forty): tertiam iam aetatem videre to happen during a person's life, year of office: in aetatem alicuius, in annum incidere our contemporaries; men of our time: homines huius aetatis, nostrae memoriae later writers: scriptores aetate posteriores or inferiores to pass one's life in luxury and idleness: per luxum et ignaviam aetatem agere to devote one's life to science, study: aetatem in litteris ducere, agere the usual subjects taught to boys: doctrinae, quibus aetas puerilis impertiri solet (Nep. Att. 1. 2) the usual subjects taught to boys: artes, quibus aetas puerilis ad humanitatem informari solet to choose a career, profession: genus vitae (vivendi) or aetatis degendae deligere modern history: recentioris aetatis memoria the history of our own times; contemporary history: memoria huius aetatis (horum temporum) universal history: omnis memoria, omnis memoria aetatum, temporum, civitatum or omnium rerum, gentium, temporum, saeculorum memoria the mythical period, the heroic age: aetas heroica (Tusc. 5. 3. 7) the principles which I have followed since I came to man's estate: meae vitae rationes ab ineunte aetate susceptae (Imp. Pomp. 1. 1.) people of every rank and age: homines omnium ordinum et aetatum the consular age (43 years): aetas consularis military age: aetas militaris men exempt from service owing to age: qui per aetatem arma ferre non possunt or aetate ad bellum inutiles
* “aetas”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “aetas”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin