# Humaniora



## Ben Jamin

This term is used in Norway to designate the humanities academic disciplines. As far as I understand 'humaniora' is plural comparative of 'humanus'.
My question is:
Is this term used in other countries?
What is the history of the term, why in comparative?

Este término es utilizado en Noruega para designar las humanidades (disciplinas académicas). Por lo que yo entiendo 'humaniora' es comparativo plural de 'humanus'.

Mis preguntas son:
¿Se utiliza este término en otros países?
¿Cuál es la historia del término?
¿Por qué en el comparativo?


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## Lamb67

*Literae Humaniores* is the most pompously-titled degree course in all academia, even once you have surmounted the initial barrier that it is in Latin. In English, it means ‘the finer writings’, http://factbook.ktab.co.uk/literaehumaniores/


Humaniora maybe is a generic name for something finer with a view to arts, history, and literature etc . In Dutch it is the same word.


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## Stoicorum_simia

Lamb67 said:


> *Literae Humaniores* is the most pompously-titled degree course in all academia, even once you have surmounted the initial barrier that it is in Latin. In English, it means ‘the finer writings’, http://factbook.ktab.co.uk/literaehumaniores/


Not a very authoritative source; better is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literae_Humaniores. I always thought this was the 'x rather than its opposite' meaning of the comparative, so referring to 'human rather than divine' letters, that is, classical literature rather than biblical and patristic. But that is just a guess.


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## Lamb67

To follow your vein if I can, HUMANIORA is the grand sum of knowlege of the human rather than the nature and animals which purports to be its opposite.


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## Stoicorum_simia

That could certainly be a modern interpretation - the humanities as opposed to the sciences. My guess is that the original meaning contrasted them with religious study, with an overtone of 'polished' literature, just like the 16th c humanists were keen on proper, classical Latin.


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## Ben Jamin

Lamb67 said:


> *Literae Humaniores* is the most pompously-titled degree course in all academia, even once you have surmounted the initial barrier that it is in Latin. In English, it means ‘the finer writings’, http://factbook.ktab.co.uk/literaehumaniores/
> 
> 
> Humaniora maybe is a generic name for something finer with a view to arts, history, and literature etc . In Dutch it is the same word.


 What is the correct nominative plural of humanius (comparative): humaniores or humaniora? I haven't got access to full declension tables now, but I suspect that humaniores is not the nominative.


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## Stoicorum_simia

Ben Jamin said:


> What is the correct nominative plural of humanius (comparative): humaniores or humaniora? I haven't got access to full declension tables now, but I suspect that humaniores is not the nominative.


Depends on the gender of the noun it qualifies - humaniores for masculine or feminine nouns (lit(t)erae being feminine) and humaniora for neuter. Both forms could also be accusative.


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## Ben Jamin

Thanks to everybody for giving the explanations of the meaning of the term. I was familiar with them more or less. I was most puzzled with the grammar: the comparative form used in some countries, while in most other countries the positive is used (scientiae humanae).


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## Peterdg

In Belgium (the Dutch speaking part), "humaniora" is used to refer to secondary school (normally from 12 - 18). In the French speaking part of Belgium, this is referred to as "les humanités".


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## DieuEtMonDroit

_Humaniora_ is the word used in Sweden as well.


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## dabisu

By the way, a chapter of "The Magic Mountain" is named _Humaniora_.


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## wandle

According to the Wikipedia link given by *Stoicorum_simia* above:

_The Latin name means literally "more humane literature", and was in contrast to the other main field of study when the university began, i.e. res divinae, aka theology. Lit Hum is concerned with human learning, and Lit. Div. with learning that came from God. In its early days, it encompassed mathematics and natural sciences as well. _

That seems to me the most likely explanation. Oddly enough, when taking the course myself, I understood the title to mean 'humane letters', that is 'civilising literature'. That is what I had been told at school and I never questioned it.


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## Ben Jamin

wandle said:


> According to the Wikipedia link given by *Stoicorum_simia* above:
> 
> _The Latin name means literally "more humane literature", and was in contrast to the other main field of study when the university began, i.e. res divinae, aka theology. Lit Hum is concerned with human learning, and Lit. Div. with learning that came from God. In its early days, it encompassed mathematics and natural sciences as well. _
> 
> That seems to me the most likely explanation. Oddly enough, when taking the course myself, I understood the title to mean 'humane letters', that is 'civilising literature'. That is what I had been told at school and I never questioned it.


Does it mean that we can conclude the thread in the following matter:

*Humaniora *is plural neutrum comparative of (Litterae)* Humanae, and refers to something more humane (worldly) than theology.
* Correctly it should be *Litterae Humaniores* (feminine) but the form was switched to neutrum when _Litterae_ fell out.


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## wandle

*Humaniora* is the comparative neuter plural of *humanus*, which means basically 'of man', or 'human'. This can certainly be contrsted with 'divinus', 'of a god or gods' or 'divine'.

We should not see *humaniora* as a changed form of *humaniores*, but as the neuter in its own right. The neuter plural of adjectives is regularly used to mean 'things [of a particular description]'.

Thus while *literae humaniores* means 'literature concerned with human affairs', *humaniora* means simply 'human things' (or 'matters' or 'affairs'); and in both cases, the comparative implies 'by contrast with divine [affairs]'.


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## Ben Jamin

wandle said:


> We should not see *humaniora* as a changed form of *humaniores*, but as the neuter in its own right. The neuter plural of adjectives is regularly used to mean 'things [of a particular description]'.
> 
> Thus while *literae humaniores* means 'literature concerned with human affairs', *humaniora* means simply 'human things' (or 'matters' or 'affairs'); and in both cases, the comparative implies 'by contrast with divine [affairs]'.



I understand of course that *humaniora *is a neuter in its own right. My point was that the name switched from *literae humaniores *to *humaniora* when the notion of *literae *was dropped and consequently forgotten, and the concept became somehow extended from "letters" to "things".


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## wandle

Thje question is, though, whether we have any ground to think that 


> the notion of literae was dropped and consequently forgotten, and the concept became somehow extended from "letters" to "things".


It is perfectly possible that at some point someone said 'This title _*literae humaniores*_ is now a misnomer: the field includes mathematics, medicine and other subjects. We need to rename it simply _*humaniora*_ '. In other words, the change was a deliberate, not an accidental one. Since this use of the neuter plural is a natural one, the deliberate change seems much more likely to me than the accidental one.


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## Ben Jamin

wandle said:


> Thje question is, though, whether we have any ground to think that
> It is perfectly possible that at some point someone said 'This title _*literae humaniores*_ is now a misnomer: the field includes mathematics, medicine and other subjects. We need to rename it simply _*humaniora*_ '. In other words, the change was a deliberate, not an accidental one. Since this use of the neuter plural is a natural one, the deliberate change seems much more likely to me than the accidental one.


I think that your theory is very plausible. By the way, I never claimed that the change was accidental, it might as well be intentional. Anyway, the change ocurred when the knowledge of Latin was still quite widespread, I believe. 

A little digression: at the time of release of the Mel Gibson film "The passion" a Norwegian journalist wrote "The dialogues in the film are in Aramaic and Latin, two languages that nobody understands any longer". I wrote an e-mail to the journalist "I learned Latin 4 years at school, and understand quite much", but I got no answer.


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