1818, from lineal + -ity. Originally of handwriting.
Entries linking to lineality
lineal adj.
late 14c., "resembling a line," from Old French lineal "pertaining to a line" (14c.), from Late Latin linealis "pertaining to a line," from linea "a string, line, thread" (see line (n.)). Compare linear. Related: Lineally.
-ity
word-forming element making abstract nouns from adjectives and meaning "condition or quality of being ______," from Middle English -ite, from Old French -ete (Modern French -ité) and directly from Latin -itatem (nominative -itas), suffix denoting state or condition, composed of -i- (from the stem or else a connective) + the common abstract suffix -tas (see -ty (2)).
Roughly, the word in -ity usually means the quality of being what the adjective describes, or concretely an instance of the quality, or collectively all the instances; & the word in -ism means the disposition, or collectively all those who feel it. [Fowler]