Early use of "universitas" in the sense of "university"

Latin after CDLXXVI
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Carolus Raeticus
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Early use of "universitas" in the sense of "university"

Post by Carolus Raeticus »

Salvete,

I am currently proofreading (first of two proofreading runs) the third and last volume of Fratris Felicis Fabri Evagatorium in terram Sanctam. He is homeward bound, currently in Padua. There he mentions the university:
Frater Felix wrote: In ea civitate sunt conventus medicantium insignes, et multi in
eis Doctores studentes; antiqua enim est universitas ibi et notabilis
in omni facultate.
I was surprised that the Latin word universitas was already being used in 1484 in its modern sense of "university". Quite surprising. Yes, the university of Padua was founded in 1222, but still.

Valete,

Carolus Raeticus
Sperate miseri, cavete felices.

Aetos
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Re: Early use of "universitas" in the sense of "university"

Post by Aetos »

Hi Carole,
Checking the DMLBS in Logeion, it appears that Oxford and Cambridge were referred as universitates as early as 1231 for Oxford and 1333 for Cambridge.

1231 consimiles literas habet universitas Oxonie directas vicecomiti Oxonie, majori et ballivis Oxonie ‥ ponitur ‘ad mandatum cancellarii et magistrorum Oxonie’ Cl 587;

1333 lx li. ‥ quos dicit se solvisse magistro J. de L. magistro scolarium de elemosina regis ad scolas universitatis Cantebrigie LTR Mem 105 m. 165;

Carolus Raeticus
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Re: Early use of "universitas" in the sense of "university"

Post by Carolus Raeticus »

Interesting, I would have thought that "universitas" in its modern sense was a late bloomer. Thank you for the info. By the way, universitas of what? Does this refer to all branches of knowledge being taught there, or does it have a different meaning?

Vale,

Carolus Raeticus
Sperate miseri, cavete felices.

Aetos
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Re: Early use of "universitas" in the sense of "university"

Post by Aetos »

Aetos wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 2:58 pm ad scolas universitatis Cantebrigie
At least in the case of Cambridge, the citation would indicate a group of schools making up the university. Pretty much the same as it means today. But then again, as my favourite comic fantasy author (Tom Holt) likes to quip, you could fit what I know about mediaeval Latin on the head of a pin and still have room for 1000 dancing angels!

brunoparga
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Re: Early use of "universitas" in the sense of "university"

Post by brunoparga »

Salve, Carole!

I am writing to report an issue with a file on your website (thank you very much for the great site, by the way!). I apologize for the off-topic message and for reporting it here rather than in a private message, but I have just created an account on this forum and I am not allowed to send direct messages yet. I'd appreciate if anyone who's reading this could DM or otherwise contact Carolus and comment below that you did.

The issue is present on the Diederich lists, both PDFs and the plain text version of the Lodge translation. They contain a duplicate of the verb suscipiō (to undertake) where suspiciō (to suspect) should be. The non-Lodge PDF even has the correct translation for suspiciō. As for typos, the verb dūcō, some of its derived verbs and repetō are also missing macra.

Might I suggest that reporting issues would be easier if it could be done by email? Gmail receives zero spam that isn't filtered.

Once again, thank you very much for your work in curating these and so many other texts! Vale!

Aetos
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Re: Early use of "universitas" in the sense of "university"

Post by Aetos »

brunoparga wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 6:43 pm I'd appreciate if anyone who's reading this could DM or otherwise contact Carolus and comment below that you did.


I have relayed your message to Carolus. Hopefully, he'll be getting back to you soon.

Carolus Raeticus
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Re: Early use of "universitas" in the sense of "university"

Post by Carolus Raeticus »

brunoparga wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 6:43 pm I am writing to report an issue with a file on your website (thank you very much for the great site, by the way!)
Salve!

Thank you for pointing out the error. I will look into it. I am happy that the information on my web-site is useful to some.

As for e-mail: I understand that the current way for reporting errors is somewhat inconvenient (this is perhaps a gross understatement), but I am a fervent proponent of information privacy (actually privacy as such), and Google and privacy do not really fit into the same sentence (unless using XOR). There is also the general problem of security on the Internet. My stance may seem somewhat paranoid, but: Si vis pacem, para bellum. If there were a Ring of Invisibility+5 I would use it (provided it did not entail too much inconvenience [like TOR]).

Aetos: Thank you for forwarding the message. I have answered by private message, but I am unsure whether that works (some of my outbound messages never managed it out of the respective message box).

Vale,

Carolus Raeticus
Sperate miseri, cavete felices.

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