Patientia come from passio (to suffer, bear); it means the ability to bear suffering. But can patientia in Latin also mean "Calm, self-possessed waiting" (OED's sense 1c)?
1 Answer
Yes – or at least something very close to that – but it is apparently a rare usage, at least in ancient Latin. I did not find unequivocal examples in Lewis & Short or Georges, and Forcellini does not even mention this sense.
Quamquam Aegidius Forcellini patientiam ita definit: «actus et habitus perpetiendi incommoda et mala», quod, si exspectandi diuturnitatem incommodum quoddam, quin etiam malum ducimus, tuam significationem complectitur.
But the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae is more explicit and has this to say:
C de -a potius eorum, qui non praepropere agunt vel aliquid futurum fideliter exspectant [⋯] 2 speciatim in religione iud. et christ. de exspectatione iudicii divini vel regni dei [⋯]
See the link for attestations. So I would say you can use patientia in that sense with a clean conscience – praesertim cum aptius verbum Latinum non facile invenies.
answered Mar 7 at 21:47
