Etymologically
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absolutio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ap.sɔˈɫuː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ab.soˈlut.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

absolūtiō f (genitive absolūtiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin absolvō (“to set free, acquit; finish”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] That verb is a compound of ab (“from”) and solvō (“to loosen”), which de Vaan explains as an old compound of ⟨*se-⟩ “away” and -luō (“to loosen”).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in the Verrines, of a man who no longer hopes for acquittal, and in the Timaeus and the De inventione of completion and perfection.[2]

Semantic evolution

In legal language it is acquittal: Cicero writes that sixteen votes could secure it, mentions the acquittal of the virgins, and uses absolūtiō maiestātis, acquittal on a charge of treason.[5] The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of the completeness of a figure of speech.[2] In the Digest it is release from an obligation.[2] Christian writers use it of release in general: Ambrose calls death the release and separation of soul and body, and Tertullian speaks of baptism as freedom from death.[6] In Church Latin it is the forgiveness of sins, sacramental absolution.[7] In Medieval Latin it is also the dissolving of a meeting, the release of a prisoner, the freeing of a slave and its record, and emancipation from a father's power.[8] English absolution comes from it through Old French, about 1200.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of acquittal and of completion.[2][5][9]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian, of release from death in baptism.[6][9]
  • c. 1200 – absolution appears in English, through Old French.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (law) Acquittal; release from an obligation.[2][5][1]
  2. Finishing, completion; completeness, perfection.[2][1]
  3. (Late Latin) Release, deliverance; separation.[6][1]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Absolution, forgiveness of sins.[7]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Dissolution of a meeting; release of a prisoner; manumission; emancipation from a father's power.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de