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adiudico

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word adiudico

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (iūdex)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin iudico
French juger
Latin iudicatio
Latin diiudico
Latin abiudico
Latin adiudico

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [adˈjuː.dɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [adˈjuː.di.ko][1]

Forms

adiūdicō (present infinitive adiūdicāre, perfect active adiūdicāvī, supine adiūdicātum); first conjugation[1] An inscription has adiovdico.[2][3] A tragic fragment quoted in the Rhetorica ad Herennium has the infinitive adiūdicārier.[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + iūdicō (“to judge”),[2][1][5] from iūdex (“judge”), for which de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *jowes-dik- (“judge”), built on the word that became iūs2 (“law”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it jokingly in the Menaechmi, “decide which of the two you will spend this night with”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a technical term, to award something as judge, especially in dividing an inheritance or fixing boundaries, and is not often used of other things.[5] A law on an inscription speaks of land that may be awarded;[2][4] Cicero has lands that Scipio Africanus awarded to the Roman people, a house awarded to himself, and a woman adjudged as a slave to Venus;[2][4] Caesar has a magistracy awarded to Convictolitavis, and Livy a judge who awards disputed property to himself.[2] With causam and a dative it is to decide a case in someone's favour.[2][4] Horace uses it of awarding to Italian arms whatever is still lacking.[2][4] More widely it is to ascribe: Cicero writes that the senate credited him with saving the empire, and Pliny the Elder has the man who first judged Lucrine oysters the best.[2][3] Ambrose has adjudging a person to death.[3] Church Latin has “judge, sentence”.[7] English adjudge (late 14th century) came through Old French, and adjudicate (1700) from the participle.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, jokingly, “decide”.[2][9]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of lands and a house awarded.[2][9]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of a magistracy awarded.[2][9]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose, of adjudging to death.[3][9]
  • late 14th century – English adjudge, through Old French.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To award as judge, adjudge, assign;[2][4][1] causam alicui adiūdicāre, to decide a case in someone's favour.[2][4][1]
  2. To ascribe, attribute.[2][3][1]
  3. (Late Latin) To condemn, sentence.[3][7]

Word family

  • adiūdicātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  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
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Adiudico.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/adiudico. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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