Etymologically
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accusatorius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ak.kuː.saːˈtoː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ak.ku.s̬aˈtɔː.ri.us][1]

Forms

accūsātōrius (feminine accūsātōria, neuter accūsātōrium, adverb accūsātōriē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin accūsō (“to accuse”) + -tōrius,[2] the adjective belonging to accūsātor (“accuser”).[1][3] accūsō is a compound of ad (“to”) and causa (“cause, lawsuit”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in Cicero, in the speech for Sextus Roscius, of the craft of a professional prosecutor.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it often: of the prosecutor's right and custom, a prosecutor's spirit, a law on prosecutions and the usual methods of accusers, which he declines to use.[2][5][3] Livy speaks of an accuser's voice and spirit, Seneca the Elder of an accuser's pugnacity and Quintilian of an accuser's life.[5][3][6] In the Digest, Ulpian uses libellī accūsātōriī of written charges.[2][5] Augustine contrasts an accusing word with a pleading one.[6] The adverb accūsātōriē, “in the manner of an accuser”, is found in Cicero and Livy.[5][3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant accusatory, of an accusation.[7] English borrowed it around 1600 as accusatory.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a prosecutor's craft and methods.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of an accuser's voice.[5][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian speaks of an accuser's life.[5][4]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of written charges.[2][4]
  • c. 1600 – English borrows it as accusatory.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or belonging to a public or professional prosecutor.[2][5]
  2. Like a prosecutor's, denunciatory.[2][3]
  3. Of or connected with prosecutions.[2]
  4. Containing an accusation, accusatory.[2][7]
  • English accusatory

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com