abiuro

Forms

abiūrō (present infinitive abiūrāre, perfect active abiūrāvī, supine abiūrātum); first conjugation^[1] Plautus has the archaic form abiūrāssit for abiūrāverit.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- (“away, off”) + iūrō (“to swear”),^[4][1] and iūrō is from iūs² (“law, right”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on, of denying something on a false oath: in the prologue of the Rudens he speaks of men who deny a debt on oath in court.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is to deny on oath, usually falsely, that one has received something: money, a loan or a present.^[4][2][3] Sallust uses it of a loan denied, Cicero of a small gift, and Virgil has abiūrātae rapīnae “plunder denied on oath”.^[3][5] Servius, explaining Virgil, defines it as denying by perjury a thing entrusted to one.^[6] In Statius it means to repudiate a duty.^[4]

Medieval Latin gave it the sense of renouncing something on oath, of swearing not to return to a country or a town, that is, going into exile, and of solemnly renouncing the solidarity of one's kin.^[7][8] In British sources it also means to swear that one is innocent or will not repeat an offence, and to repudiate a wife or concubine.^[9] English borrowed it, from Old French and directly from Latin, as abjure in the early 15th century, first especially of renouncing a heresy on oath.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a debt denied on oath.^[4][2][11]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of a loan denied on oath.^[2][11]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of plunder denied on oath.^[3][5][11]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of repudiating a rite.^[4][11]
• c. 400 AD – Servius explains it as denying a deposit by perjury.^[6][11]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as abjure.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To deny falsely on oath (that one owes or received something).^[4][2][3]
2. To repudiate an obligation or duty.^[4]
3. (Medieval Latin) To renounce on oath; to swear not to re-enter a country or town; to renounce one's kin.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) To swear that one is innocent or will not repeat an offence.^[9]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To deny an oath, perjure oneself.^[12]

Word family

• abiūrātiō

Related words

• iūrō
• ēiūrō
• pēierō
• English abjure

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson