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adoptatio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word adoptatio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin adoptō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin adopto
English adopt
Latin adoptatio
From the same root
Latin adoptivus ← adopto

Forms

adoptātiō f (genitive adoptātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin adoptō (“to adopt”) + -tiō.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, in the speech on his house, says of one adoption that nothing in it was done lawfully, and in the Pro Balbo mentions the adoption of Theophanes.[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of adopting, taking someone into a family as a child,[2][6] and Lewis & Short note that it was a secondary form beside adoptiō, which replaced it after the classical period.[6] Sallust uses it of a prince who reached the throne by adoption.[3][7] Gellius distinguishes it as adoption carried out before the praetor from adrogātiō, adoption by vote of the people.[3][7] Spartianus, Capitolinus and Tertullian still have it, Tertullian of gods adopted by a people,[3] and Boethius uses it of passing by adoption into another family.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in his speeches.[3][5]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it in the Jugurtha.[3][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius contrasts it with adrogātiō.[3][5]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of the adoption of gods.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Adoption into a family, taking someone as one's child.[2][6]
  2. (law) Adoption carried out before the praetor, as against adrogātiō.[3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
Cite this entry

“Adoptatio.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/adoptatio. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·