Can 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢 mean "Calm, self-possessed waiting"?

Question

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)?

Answer 1

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.