accusatio

Forms

accūsātiō f (genitive accūsātiōnis); third declension^[1] Manuscripts also have accussātiō.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin accūsō (“to accuse”) + -tiō.^[3][1][2][4] accūsō is ad- with causa (“cause, lawsuit”),^[1][5] whose origin de Vaan finds uncertain (Walde and Hofmann linked it with cūdō (“to strike”)).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler first records it in Cicero,^[6] who uses it in Dē inventiōne for the accusation as part of judicial oratory.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Accūsātiō is the act of accusing, a prosecution (Cicero: the method of the courts consists of accusation and defence), and quārta accūsātiō is the fourth and last hearing of a trial before the people.^[3][7] It is also the charge itself, a formal indictment, and a published speech for the prosecution, as Cicero calls a book of his Verrines; in Tacitus it is the accusations of informers.^[3] Livy uses it for a reproof, as of a speaker who began by rebuking his own folly.^[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “accusation”.^[8] English accusation (late 14th century) comes from it, partly through Old French.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero in Dē inventiōne.^[3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it for a rebuke.^[3][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of informers' accusations.^[3][6]
• late 14th century – English accusation.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An accusation, prosecution.^[3][7][1][8]
2. An indictment, a charge.^[3][7][1]
3. A speech for the prosecution.^[3]
4. A rebuke, reproof.^[3][1]

Related words

• accūsābilis
• accūsātīvus
• accūsātor
• accūsātōriē
• accūsātōrius
• accūsātrīx
• accūsitō
• accūsō
• causa
• English accusation

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson