diuturnitas

Diuturnitas is a Latin noun meaning long duration or endurance, formed from the adjective diuturnus (long-lasting) and the abstract suffix -itas. It denotes the quality or state of persisting over a long time, whether of a life, an object, a law, or an institution. In classical Latin, diuturnitas can describe the length of a life, the durability of materials, or the persistence of customs, powers, or memories. The term is also used in rhetorical or moral contexts to reflect on the diuturnitas of virtue or the lasting influence of actions. In poetry, it may convey the sense of ages enduring beyond an individual lifespan or the slow passage of seasons and epochs. In medieval Latin, diuturnitas appears in theological and juridical writing to signify lasting validity or the durable authority of established norms. In modern scholarship, diuturnitas is treated as a lexical notion capturing long-term persistence, often discussed in contrast to shorter-lived phenomena. It is listed in Latin lexica as the standard expression for long duration and is typically glossed as "long duration" or "endurance" in translations. Related terms include diuturnus (long-lasting) and duratio (duration).