calamitās
Meaning
- loss, damage, harm
- misfortune, calamity, disaster
[…] dēnique, quotiēnscumque mē petīstī, per mē tibi obstitī, quamquam vidēbam perniciem meam cum magnā calamitāte reī pūblicae esse coniūnctam.
In short, as often as you attacked me, I opposed you by my own efforts, although I saw that my ruin was connected with great disaster for the Republic.63 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam orationes 1.11 - military defeat
- blight, crop failure
In the readers how our graded readers gloss it
Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Infortunium · Calamitas · Infelicitas · Miseria
Infortunium and calamitas denote a single misfortune; infortunium, more as a vexatious accident, like malheur, for example, the loss of a purse, receiving blows, etc.; calamitas (from κολούω) a tragic accident, as the loss of a beloved person, of power, etc.; whereas infelicitas and miseria denote an unfortunate state of considerable duration; infelicitas, merely as the absence of success; miseria (from μυσαρός?) as an actual, pressing state of affliction.
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | calamitās | calamitātēs |
| genitive | calamitātis | calamitātum |
| dative | calamitātī | calamitātibus |
| accusative | calamitātem | calamitātēs |
| ablative | calamitāte | calamitātibus |
| vocative | calamitās | calamitātēs |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- calamitate doctus
- schooled by adversity.
- calamitatibus obrui
- to be overwhelmed with misfortune.
- calamitatem haurire
- to drain the cup of sorrow.
- calamitatibus defungi
- to come to the end of one's troubles.
- calamitatibus affligi
- to be the victim of misfortune.
- in calamitatem incidere
- to be overtaken by calamity.
- calamitatem accipere, subire
- to suffer mishap.
- nihil calamitatis (in vita) videre
- to live a life free from all misfortune.
1 more phrases
- calamitatem, pestem inferre alicui
- to bring mishap, ruin on a person.
non ut legatus populi Romani, sed ut quaedam calamitas pervadere videretur, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 17, § 44 (cf. calamitosus, I A.): in calamitate fructuum, in the failure, id. ib. 2, 3, 98, § 227: gregem afficere magnā calamitate, Varr. R. R. 2, 1, 27.—excluded from hexameters by the measure): quanta, Plaut. Poen. 4, 2, 101: ita eam oppressit calamitas, Ter. Hec. prol. 22 (30): nova, Cic. Agr. 2, 3, 8: videbam, perniciem meam cum magnā calamitate rei publicae esse conjunctam, id. Cat. 1, 5, 11: aliis cau-sam calamitatis attribuere, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 41, § 106: calamitatem capere, id. Div. 1, 16: in calamitate esse, distress, Sall. C. 44, 5: calamitates perferre, Caes. B. G. 3, 19: tolerare, Cic. Att. 3, 14, 2: ferre, Nep. Timol. 4, 1; cf.: calamitates ferre, id. Ham. 1, 3: calamitate prohibere aliquem, Cic. Imp. Pomp. 7, 18: ignominiam et calamitatem in domum referre, id. Off. 1, 39, 138; Phaedr. 1, 3 fin.; cf. id. 3, prol. 40: calamitates publicae, Suet. Calig. 31; Col. 1, 3, 7.—magna clades atque calamitas rempublicam oppressisset, Sall. C. 39, 4: accipere, Nep. Con. 1, 3: accidit illa calamitas apud Leuctra, id. Ages. 6, 1: calamitates belli ferre, id. Hann. 1, 3: calamitatem inferre alicui, Caes. B. G. 1, 12.—Hence opp. to victoria, Suet. Caes. 60.—hostium adversus calamitates contendere, against the prostrate enemy, Just. 11, 12, 13.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
According to Schrijver, probably built from an unattested adjective *calamis or *calamus + -tās. This same base adjective is probably also continued by incolumis. According to this theory, the second syllable was not syncopated due to the influence of the adjective from which it derived. Schrijver connects this adjective to the root Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat”), suggesting perhaps a pre-form of the shape *kelh₂-mo-, which would yield *kela-mo- with the vocalization of the laryngeal and eventually *cala-mo- with a sound change of *e > *a after a pure velar (compare also scandō (“to jump”) for a possible example of a similar development). Regarding the ablaut grade of this PIE adjective, Schrijver compares Ancient Greek θερμός (thermós, “warm”) (< *gʷʰer-mo-s). Alternatively, Schrijver suggests that it may reflect an *m-stem adjective of the shape *kl̥h₂-em-, though he concedes that there are no other known adjectives of this type. However, terms of a similar structure are attested in nouns, such as Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed”). This second proposal is supported by De Vaan, who considers there to be no other good explanation for the initial ca-. An old form by l-d-alternation is Old Latin kadamitās.
- Catalancalamitat
- Englishcalamity
- Frenchcalamité
- GermanKalamität
- Italiancalamità
- Occitancalamitat
- Portuguesecalamidade
- Romaniancalamitate
- Sardiniancalàma
- Spanishcalamidad
In English words that came into English from calamitās
- calamitycalamitās
- calamitouscalamitōsus