abstractio

Forms

abstractiō f (genitive abstractiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin abstrahō (“to drag away”) + -tiō, on the stem of its past participle.^[1][2][3] The verb is made of abs- and trahō (“to draw, drag”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *traχe/o-.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in the Latin Dictys Cretensis, which Köbler places, with a query, in the 4th century AD: there abstractio coniugis means the carrying off of a wife.^[6][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The medical writer Cassius Felix used it of a drawing off of fluid.^[6] In Boethius' translation of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics it became a philosophical term, “abstraction”.^[7][8][6]

In medieval Latin it meant taking away and dispossession,^[9][10] and also abstinence, omission and castration; the philosophical sense of separating a thing in thought from matter was common in scholastic writing.^[10] British records use it for the dragging away of fugitives from a church, the extraction of a tooth and a cut in tailoring.^[11] English took abstraction from Old French around 1400, first meaning withdrawal from worldly affairs;^[4] Conte derives Italian astrazione from the medieval Latin word.^[12]

Timeline

• 4th century AD – Dictys Cretensis uses it for the carrying off of a wife.^[6][3]
• 447 AD – Cassius Felix uses it in a medical context.^[6][3]
• 1268 – A council in England uses it of dragging fugitives out of churches.^[11]
• c. 1400 – English borrows abstraction through Old French.^[4]
• 1509 – A Canterbury account records a payment for the extraction of a tooth.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A carrying off, abduction; separation.^[2][6][7]
2. (Late Latin, philosophy) Abstraction.^[7][8][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A taking away, dispossession.^[9][10]
4. (Medieval Latin) Abstinence; omission.^[10]
5. (Medieval Latin) Detachment, removal; the extraction of a tooth.^[13][11]

Related words

• abstrahō
• English abstraction

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b c d 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
12. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson