codicil

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French codicille (“supplement to a will”), recorded in Old French from 1270,^[2][3][4] and partly borrowed from Latin cōdicillus (“set of writing tablets; letter; supplement to a will”),^[2][5][6][7] a word used chiefly in the plural,^[2][8][9] formed from cōdex (“book, ledger”) with the diminutive suffix -illus.^[2][9][5] The Latin word is also the source of Old Occitan codicil, Catalan codicil, Spanish codicilo, Portuguese codicilo and Italian codicillo, all meaning a supplement to a will.^[2] Collins and Dictionary.com take it from Late Latin.^[10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A supplement to a will: in a will of about 1419 printed in Earliest English Wills,^[2][11] about 1419 in Barnhart too.^[3] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense has stayed the main one: a later document that explains, alters or revokes part of a will and, once proved, forms part of it.^[2][12] The Paston letters of the 1450s and 1460s already speak of codicils.^[11] A figurative sense, any supplement or appendix, is recorded from 1566,^[2] although the Shorter Oxford dates it only to the late 18th century.^[8] From 1640 to 1781 the word was also used, after the Latin, for a writing tablet, a letter, an account book or letters patent.^[2][8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "an appendage to a will", quoting Prior.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1419 – a supplement to a will.^[2][11]
• 1566 – figuratively, a supplement or appendix.^[2]
• 1640 – a writing tablet, letter or account book (obsolete by 1781).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A document added to a will that explains, changes or revokes part of it: She added a codicil leaving the cottage to her niece.^{[10][4][2][12]}
2. Any supplement or appendix.^[10][2]
3. (Roman law) An informal will that could not name an heir but could set out legacies and instructions binding on the heirs.^[4]
4. (obsolete, 1640–1781) A writing tablet, letter or account book.^[2][8]

Word family

• codicillary

Related words

• codex
• code

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
12. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.